This Criminal Chamber Supreme Court Increased compensation from 3,000 euros to 20,000 euros for a City Council employee of a small municipality in Seville to pay a colleague who repeatedly sexually harassed a colleague at the start of his day or during his work as a cleaner for a year.
The most innovative thing about this decision, which was made public this Monday, is that the supreme court also condemned the City Council. secondary legal liability Emphasizing that “it is the employer’s responsibility to ensure the safety conditions against sexual harassment in the workplace” – in case the aggressor fails to pay the determined amount – compensation is paid.
The Court of Cassation acts in accordance with the “clear positive obligation on this matter” in the Constitution. law for effective equality of men and women.
The church was not named to protect the victim suffering from moderate cognitive impairment. In its decision, the Supreme Court rejected the objection of the municipal employee to the decision of the Seville Provincial Court, which sentenced him to a total of 4 years and 3 months in prison for the crime of continuous sexual abuse and another sexual abuse. to some extent.
According to proven facts, the defendant and the victim Cleaning missions for the city. Taking advantage of both being alone in business venues such as the gym, school, culture house, or some warehouse of the local company, she acted during the workday and touched the victim and other forms of harassment “with a lascivious spirit”.
up to 8 floors
The incidents occurred at least eight times from the summer of 2014 to August 31, 2015. On this last day, at about 8:20 a.m., the accused took his victim to the sports center and “when he got there, according to the proven facts, he took his penis and asked (the victim) to suck it, which he refused because he said it disgusted him.”
Both were later heard by another City Hall employee. He heard the woman say in an anguished voice, “I can’t, I can’t.” and to the accused “come do not suck, come do not suck, come do not suck there”, the victim answers “no, no”. to hear this the witness was violently shocked, he decided to make noise by slamming the door to show his presence, thereupon the accused decided to leave the venue.
Proven facts also help the victim “a intelligence level below the population average Having an immature personality that can be easily perceived by third parties, has mild to moderate mental retardation, lacks education, has not reached the intellectual, mature and emotional level to fully and adequately understand sexual relations. vulnerable to external requirements beyond their controlit offers a capacity to give consent that is impaired by the limitations it presents”, underlines the Supreme Court.
Superior only changes the degree decision regarding civil liability, partially anticipating the victim’s objection. The Court considers that the compensation of 2,000 euros is low, as the non-pecuniary damage caused by sexual harassment has to consider not only the pathological or psychological changes, but also the damage to dignity.
In a particular case, “where eight cases of abuse proven and, in the absence of other indications, the special vulnerability of the victim, as well as one more attempt at penetration, even with restraint resulting from conscientiousness, the compensation should not be less than 20,000 euros ”, states the sentence. , sets this amount.
It also establishes the subsidiary legal responsibility of the City Council when the conditions for recognizing him are fulfilled, such as the person declared responsible for the crime has been sentenced to compensate the victim; the accused is affiliated with the City Council for employment; and that he was performing the tasks entrusted to the cleaning job at the time the crime was committed and reviewing the victim’s duties and then finishing.
The sentence states that “The municipal public service is provided through the Sports Center for the development of leisure activities under its own name (…), where the person responsible for the crime is given an auxiliary but essential task”. their own development, such as cleaning duties; and abuses his partner, who is a special vulnerable person, directly on their occasion, in the distribution or demonstration of the work and in the supervision of these duties”.