£133,000 paid out in four harassment cases

FOUR Northern employers have agreed to pay out more than £133,000 to five people in settlement of alleged sectarian harassment cases, according to the Fair Employment Commission. The five victims all left their employment because of the alleged harassment.

The Royal Mail Cash Company is to pay two men, a Protestant and a Catholic, £27,500 each, having accepted that they had been subjected to sectarian harassment.

The Catholic alleged he had been harassed by Protestant colleagues and that the company, though fully aware of the case, failed to take remedial action. The Protestant claimed he had been ostracised and subjected to continuing harassment because he associated with Catholic colleagues.

The Colin Glen Trust, in West Belfast, agreed to pay a Protestant man £26,000 following his allegation that his position within the organisation had been undermined and that he had been subjected to sectarian harassment.

In a third case a Protestant man who was employed as a labourer with Kennedy (Contractors) Ltd in Macosquin, Coleraine, Co Derry, accepted £22,500 in settlement of his case involving sectarian harassment and unfair dismissal.

He alleged he had been subjected to sectarian remarks by Catholic colleagues and that he had been called "an Orange bastard" and "a jaffa". He reported, the remarks but the company took no action.

In the fourth case a Catholic man who felt that he had to leave his job as a steelworker with Harland and Wolff Shipbuilding and Heavy Industries Ltd because, of sectarian harassment accepted £30,000 in settlement of his case.