Woman wins £36,000 suit over ‘inappropriate touch’ by colleague at work

A woman known as Fernanda Hermosilla is £36,000 richer after winning a lawsuit where she accused a colleague of s£xually harassing her.

Mail Online reports that Fernanda said a colleague inappropriately touched her at a Christmas party in December 2022.

Another colleague who was there and saw the incident play out made a formal complaint to their boss, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission to probe the matter.

During the investigation, Ms Fernanda told her boss about an initial incident where she was inappropriately touched by the same colleague at an event at Belfast nightclub which is clearly not a working environment.

She says she hesitated in reporting the issue to her employer after that encounter at the nightclub because she had just assumed her new position at work.

During investigations in the matter, Ms Fernanda Hermosilla worked from the office whilst the colleague she is accusing of harassment worked remotely.

After engagements on this issue, she settled on the colleague paying £21,000 and her employer paying £15,000.