THE National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) has called on all authorities concerned not to turn a blind eye to an alleged act of injustice against a bank employee who was allegedly sexually harassed and bullied.
In a statement, NUBE said that despite being repeatedly harassed and bullied, including sexually by her male superior since 2021, the victim was recently terminated by the Bank.
The reason given was that she had allegedly failed to attend a separate investigative interview with the bank. At the same time, there was an ongoing dispute settlement process between the Bank and the union over the allegations.
“What is more shocking is that the bank proceeded to sack the victim of sexual harassment, despite the perpetrator being formally charged in September 2024 on two counts of sexual harassment.
“The perpetrator pleaded not guilty and was released on a conditional bail prohibiting him from contacting the victim,” said NUBE general secretary, J. Solomon.
He said the victim’s ordeal began in 2021 when the perpetrator allegedly sent sexually explicit messages via WhatsApp to the victim, his subordinate.
Initially, the victim reported to the branch manager but there was no action taken against the perpetrator by the bank.
The victim did not lodge a police report then, about the harassment fearing a potential backlash.
However, being unable to stand the harassment and intimidation, she lodged a report with the union and a police report was made on August 16, 2024, over her claims of sexual harassment and bullying by her superior.
A month before that, during the dispute settlement process, Solomon said the bank agreed to investigate the sexual harassment and transfer the perpetrator.
“However, on the same day as the victim’s police report, the bank sent the victim a letter instructing her to attend a separate investigative interview on August 20, 2024, over her allegations.
“The victim responded to the bank stating that she had filed a sexual harassment report on October 6, 2021, to the bank, but no concrete action was taken against the perpetrator,” he said.
Solomon said the victim had lodged four (4) grievances and wanted the grievance process to take its course, with the unions’ participation and did not want to bypass the grievance process and attend the investigative interview.
However, on August 20, 2024, the victim received a letter from the bank stating that her refusal to attend the investigative interview was “tantamount to acts of insubordination and wilful defiance of authorities”.
The bank decided to suspend the victim until further notice, barring her from entering the work premises without prior permission from her superiors.
The victim was placed on half pay for the first two weeks and instead of being reinstated to full pay, the victim was terminated on Oct 30, 2024 - a day before Deepavali.
"NUBE believes the victim was unfairly terminated in a desperate attempt to prevent the victim from exposing the bank’s breach of its own zero tolerance policy, and non-compliance of the internal remedies.
"In this case, the perpetrator showed no respect at all to the fairer sex and instead went on to abuse his authority as her superior and take advantage of her.
“NUBE strongly urges the Bank to reinstate the victim and also issue a formal apology for not providing her with a safe working environment," added Solomon. ENDS
