Letters: Sexual harassment is a serious offence as it violates a person's honour and dignity guaranteed by Article 5 of the Federal Constitution.
The workplace should be free from sexual harassment, such as degrading words or pictures (like graffiti, photos or posters), physical contact of any kind and sexual demands.
Victims of sexual harassment may file a tort suit against the harasser in the civil court for assault and battery. If the victim was threatened with physical sexual abuse or has been assaulted, an assault claim could be maintained.
A threat to cause harm to the victim can be considered a tort of assault, so long as the threat of harm is imminent, such as the words or gestures of a sexual nature without bodily contact.
Sexual battery claim may be valid if it involves physical touching or intentional infliction of unlawful force on another person.
The outrageous conduct of the perpetrator may also entail a claim for mental distress damages.
The victim may consider filing a vicarious liability suit against the employer or the government for the sexual harassment committed by a co-worker or their customers provided that the sexual harassment was committed within the course of employment.
Litigation against the employer is founded on the basis of failure to use reasonable care to protect its workers against foreseeable sexual assault.
To successfully maintain a vicarious liability claim, for example, against the employer, the victim must prove that there was an employee and employer relationship between the parties and that the act was done in the course of employment.
For sexual harassment to be considered committed in the course of employment, it must either be authorised or be so connected with an authorised act that it can be considered a mode, though an improper way, of performing the said act.
Where the claim is well-founded, the court may award damages for the physical and emotional harm suffered by the victim.
The above civil claims are in the alternative to other available remedies to the victim, such as lodging a police report pursuant to the Criminal Procedure Code for various sexual offences under the Penal Code, as well as resigning from employment and thereafter alleging constructive dismissal.
Dr Ashgar Ali Ali Mohamed
International Islamic University Malaysia
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times