London - It is not a sackable offence for a man to grope a woman’s breasts just once in the workplace, a court in Germany has ruled.
A mechanic who fondled a 26-year-old cleaning lady while saying “these look like fun” should not have been dismissed, judges sitting at the Federal Labour Court in Erfurt said.
The mechanic promptly apologised, paid the woman a sum of money and promised it would not happen again - but was sacked in 2012 for sexual harassment.
After hearing the mechanic’s appeal against the case, judges ordered his garage to reinstate him and released a statement saying: “Sexual harassment in the workplace must not lead to the immediate termination of the offender.”
They said a cease and desist letter should have sufficed, and that firing the 37-year-old man - who had worked at the firm for 16 years - had been a step too far.
But they went on to clarify that only a single grope was tolerable, and that serial fondling should result in the boot.
The garage said it was now considering whether or not to appeal the judges’ verdict.
Daily Mail