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GAZETTE
L A W B R I E F
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1994
by Dr Eamonn Hall, Solicitor
Sexual Harrassment
The Employment Equality Agency has
prepared a draft Code of Practice on
the
Protection of the Dignity of
Women and Men at Work.
The draft
code had been compiled by the
Agency, based on broad consultation
and agreement among employer
bodies and trades unions. The draft
code is being examined by the
Department of Equality and Law
Reform. (See reply to Parliamentary
Question in 444
Dail Reports
col.
1668, June 30, 1994).
The Minister for Equality and Law
Reform, Mr. Taylor, stated that he
intended to have the draft code
published shortly in line with a
commitment given in the
Programme
for Competitiveness and Work.
It
would then be promoted, monitored
and reviewed by the Employment
Equality Agency. Implementation of
the code will be on a voluntary basis.
However, the Minister proposed to
give it statutory recognition in the
forthcoming employment equality
legislation so that cases for decision by
the Equality Officer, the Labour Court
or civil courts could have due regard to
the contents of the code. The Minister
also stated that the code would put in
place an appropriate Irish measure
giving effect to the EU Resolution on
the protection of the dignity of men
and women at work adopted by the
Council of Ministers in May, 1990.
What is sexual harassment? There is
probably no satisfactory definition.
However, the writer refers to a
definition set out in a Report of the
New York State Bar Association
Committee on Women in the Law
dated October, 1992 entitled
"Sexual
Harassment
- A
Report and Model
Policy for Law Firms".
In that
Report, sexual harassment was
defined as follows:
"unwelcome or unwanted sexual
advances, requests for sexual
favours, and other verbal, non-
verbal or physical conduct of a
sexual nature when: (1) submission
to or rejection of this conduct by an
individual is used explicitly or
implicitly as a factor in decisions
affecting hiring, evaluation,
promotion or other aspects of
employment; or (2) this conduct
substantially interferes with an
individual's employment or creates
an intimidating, hostile or offensive
work environment."
Examples of sexual harassment set out
in the Report included, but were not
limited to, unwanted sexual advances;
demands for sexual favours in exchange
for favourable treatment or continued
employment; repeated sexual jokes,
flirtations, advances or propositions;
verbal abuse of a sexual nature; verbal
commentary about an individual's body,
sexual prowess or sexual deficiencies;
leering, whistling, touching, pinching,
assault, coerced sexual acts or
suggestive, insulting, obscene or
demeaning comments or gestures; and
display in the workplace of sexually
suggestive objects or pictures.
The Report states that the above
behaviour, constituting sexual
harassment, was unacceptable both
in
the workplace itself and by any person
in any setting
outside
the workplace
including, but not limited to, other
work-related settings such as business
trips, court appearances and business-
related social events.
The new code is awaited.
Advertising by Solicitors
Criticism has been expressed of the
manner in which some solicitors in
Ireland are advertising their services.
Many lawyers would like the right to
advertise restricted or even abolished.
Two recent developments are
noteworthy: there is the
Solicitors'
(Amendment) Bill, 1994
which
contains provisions in relation to
advertising, and there is the decision
of the European Court of Human
Rights in
Casado Coca v Spain,
(February 1994).
The
Solicitors' (Amendment) Bill,
1994,
passed by Dáil Éireann on June
30, 1994 (but not yet passed by the
Seanad) provides that the Law Society
shall not prohibit advertising by
solicitors. However, the Law Society is
given specific authorisation pursuant to
section 69(4) of the Bill to prohibit
advertising by solicitors which
• is likely to bring the solicitors'
profession into disrepute, or
• is in bad taste, or
• reflects unfavourably on other
solicitors, or
• contains an express or implied
assertion by a solicitor that he or
she has specialist knowledge in any
area of law or practice superior to
other solicitors or
• is false or misleading in any respect, or
• comprises or includes unsolicited
approaches to any person with a view
to obtaining instructions in any legal
matter, or is contrary to public policy.
However, the Law Society is not
entitled to prohibit the advertising of
any charge or fee by a solicitor for the
provision of any specified legal
service. (Section 69(5) of the Bill).
Section 69(6) of the Bill empowers
the Society to make certain
regulations after two years prohibiting
the advertising of any charge or fee by
a solicitor for any specified legal
service subject to the proviso that
such regulations may be made only
with the consent of the Minister for
Justice and where the Minister is
satisfied that such regulations are in
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