NN, an employee of a well-known real estate financing company, had a harrowing time with her boss, a senior vice-president and father figure to everyone in the organisation. From an occasional compliment about her looks, it became a daily irritation. He would touch her inappropriately and pretend it was an accidental brush. He would suddenly creep up behind her when she was working and stand uncomfortably close to her. Since her husband’s business was going through a financially critical period, she needed to stay in the job, at least for a while as she earned a high salary. Two months into the harassment, she slapped him one day in full glare of everyone in the office.
“I told him if he ever harassed me again, I would throw acid on his face. I was served a notice for the slap and threat, but he was let off as the management did not believe that an “old, respectable man like him” could indulge in sexual harassment. When the Human Resource head told me this, all I could do was laugh. It was so funny. They started finding fault with my work. My promotion was held back and it became a very hostile work environment,” says NN to Outlook. Subsequently, she quit the job and her tormentor went on to become a president of the division.