Friday, May 12, 2006
Casino official says her boss harassed her
A Casino official yesterday filed sexual harassment charges against her boss, saying she was subjected to his unwelcome advances and transferred out of Cebu for rejecting his affection.
Gladys said Eric even tried to kiss her during a closed-door meeting that discussed marketing matters.
(Names of both parties are being withheld pending comment of the respondent.)
Both are management officials of the government-owned Casino Filipino.
Both were assigned at the branch in Lapu-Lapu City until Gladys, last March 21, was transferred to the Casino Filipino-Silahis on Roxas Blvd., Quezon City. Eric remains in Lapu-Lapu City.
In her complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas, Gladys blames Eric for her transfer.
She said he, not content with getting her sent to Manila, then called her new superiors at the Silahis branch and badmouthed her.
“I was surprised because people already had a negative impression of me even before I got there,” she said when interviewed after the filing.
In her three-page affidavit prepared by lawyer Dante David, Gladys narrated that her harassment began “just a few weeks” after Eric got assigned to Mactan in July last year.
She said she began dealing with him on a professional level but the latter had other things in mind.
“There were several occasions when he would suddenly barge inside my office and tease me,” she said, quoting him as commenting on how good she looked despite having three children and how he’d never let her go out to work had he been her husband.
“These visits of (Eric) became very frequent without any apparent purpose. One time, I was wearing a mini skirt and while I was seated on my chair, he nonchalantly held my legs,” she narrated.
And his “malicious overtures,” she alleged, didn’t stop there, detailing that marketing meeting that had him trying to kiss her.
“There was also a time when he invited me to a night out but sensing the motives behind his invitation, I declined,” she said.
Eric, she said, got vindictive.
“Since then, until my transfer to Manila, I felt the brunt of (Eric’s) tirade. He started finding faults in every move that I make. There was even a time when he berated me for not reporting for office when he knew I (was out and) represented him in a meeting,” she said.
Eric even went to the point of suspending her, an assistant manager and a nurse for issuing a certificate on the hospitalization of her child. Eric and reportedly told another casino official that she only needed to approach him and apologize and all her problems would be over.
“From this statement of (respondent), it would appear clear that he was instrumental to my suspension, such that he has the power, influence and authority to have changed the penalty against me had I unwittingly or unwittingly acceded to his sexual propositions,” Gladys said. (KNR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (May 12, 2006 issue)
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