Female employees at an undisclosed workplace were asked to undress in order to prove they were not menstruating after a sanitary towel was spotted in a public area.
This was one of the complaints dealing with various aspects of gender and race discrimination investigated by the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality last year.
The NCPE's annual report says that, acting on information it had received, the commission had decided to investigate the case of sexual harassment involving the female workers who had been ordered to undress.
The company under investigation had admitted that the event did take place. However, it pleaded that "the person in authority" responsible for such harassment had acted under provocation.
The commission found such behaviour amounted to sexual harassment and asked the company to implement a policy against sexual harassment at the workplace and to provide its employees with training in this respect. Another case of sexual harassment at the workplace consisted of a rhyme, in Maltese and taken from a play, that was found in a cabinet in an office by a female employee who felt offended and degraded by the verses.
The employer recognised this as amounting to harassment and the commission concluded it was indeed sexual harassment causing offence and humiliation.
It also commended the employer for taking appropriate action by ordering the immediate removal of such rhyme, admonishing the perpetrator and seeking a written apology from the same perpetrator.
In another case, this time dealing with gender discrimination at the workplace, the NCPE acted upon a complaint and investigated the conditions under which security and escort duties were assigned to employees.
It resulted that the manner in which such security and escort duties were distributed by the persons in management brought about a situation whereby female employees, although trained, were excluded from such duties with the consequence that any monetary benefits linked to the work were being paid only to male employees.
The company under investigation pleaded that, due to the potential risks involved in escort duties, it "believes the assignment of male security guards provides the most appropriate protection" and, moreover, that facilities at the locations where such escort duties were to be carried out were poor.
The commission concluded that this practice amounted to gender discrimination and asked the company to take all necessary action to remove such practices.
Under gender discrimination in access to employment, the NCPE investigated a call for employment as a dental assistant. Although the call did not indicate any preference as to whether the applicant was male or female, upon seeking further information, the complainant was informed that the dental clinic would only consider female applicants.
The employer pleaded that it was its policy that all chair-side dental assistants would be female and that this was the norm throughout the European Union in the case of dental clinics.
The commission said this was gender discrimination and asked the company to refrain from any such discriminatory practices.
The reports also mentions cases of indirect discrimination due to family responsibilities.
Acting upon a complaint, the NCPE investigated the conditions contained in a call for promotions within the public service which included the requirement that the applicant must have been in continuous service for a number of months. The complainant was thus excluded as she was working on a reduced hour schedule due to family responsibilities. The commission concluded that such criterion amounted to indirect discrimination.
After discussions, the Public Service Commission undertook to address the matter by amending the criterion of eligibility so that the years of service required for one to be eligible would be aggregate in cases in which the applicants had a break in their service.
The reports says that the commission was invited to participate in talks over a collective agreement in order to ensure that the conditions of employment agreed respected the principle of gender equality and ensured respect for employees having family responsibilities.
The annual report, which was tabled in Parliament, will be discussed during a business breakfast tomorrow.