Galway Civic Trust rocked by sexual harassment complaints
Galway City Tribune - Multiple claims of sexual harassment of an employee of Galway Civic Trust have been reported to the charity’s Board of Directors.
The Civic Trust has declined to comment but it is understood the Board hasn’t yet formally investigated the complaints, which relate to incidents in 2015 and 2016.
A woman employee complained to the Board that she was sexually harassed by a male colleague, when on four separate occasions sexually-suggestive comments were made to her. The man is no longer active in the Trust.
She said that “sexual comments” were made about her and a female co-worker by a male colleague on the day of the organisation’s Christmas party in 2015.
During another incident in January, 2016, the woman said she was fixing a computer beneath the desk in the Trust’s city centre office when the male colleague entered the room.
“As I crawled out from under the desk he commented that ‘being on my knees was the place for me’. This made me feel very self-conscious and awkward,” the woman said in her complaint submitted to the Board.
At a staff meeting the following month, February 2016, it is alleged that the male worker referred to a movie called Deliverance, and “a scene where a man is raped by two other men and the phrase ‘squeal little piggy’ was used”. The complainant said: “He found this very amusing. I felt very uncomfortable”. This is a preview only. To read the rest of this article and details of the complaints, see this week's Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week's paper here.
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