Yet another example of the toxic bloke culture which still remains in some workplaces:
[The complainant] said one incident in 2007 involved the company's managing director (Mr E) approaching him from behind while he was bending over and "rubbing his genital area" against his backside – a term the report described as "dry humping".If the victim had been a woman, there would have been no hesitation in calling this what it is: sexual assault. But because he was a man, the company tried to laugh it off as the "rituals of Kiwi mateship" and told him to "harden up". Being regularly assaulted is apparently just an ordinary part of life, according to these morons, and if you don't like it, you're somehow unmanly.[...]
At a Christmas function the same year, Mr C said he was the subject of another unpleasant experience, which the ERA report described as "genital flicking". "This was a process where, when a group of workmates were standing together, typically in a social environment, one or other of them would flick at or near the genitals of a colleague nearby, allegedly with purpose of making the recipient spill his drink."
No-one should have to put up with this sort of treatment at work, or anywhere else. And the employer in question has just been handed a $12,500 reminder that its simply not acceptable. And no doubt, he'll be somewhere tonight, drinking, complaining that having to treat people with some basic dignity and respect by e.g. not assaulting them is "PC gone mad"...
