JOIN USThe woman, a former senior sales consultant with the US-based company in Melbourne, is suing the firm for damages claiming it failed to act on her repeated complaints of sexual harassment, discrimination and abuse.
“Our client was a high-performing executive earning in excess of Australian $150,000 (US$158,000) per year, and often took home bonuses of several thousand dollars per month,” said Siobhan Keating, representing the woman in her Australian Human Rights Commission case.
“She did her job very well until the appointment of a new senior manager, who systematically harassed and bullied her.”
Over a two-year period, Keating said the manager repeatedly rubbed himself against the woman in the office, put his hand on her leg and up her dress during a night function and told her to “get your breasts out” to boost sales.
The man, who no longer works at IBM, would allegedly also call the woman late at night and when she was on leave, make unreasonable work demands and threaten her that he was “watching your every step”.