Sex worker wins ‘wake-up call’ sexual harassment case and receives six-figure payout

New Zealand decriminalised sex work in 2003 and granted working rights to the people involved

The judgement is being hailed as landmark move by activists (Getty Images)

A sex worker in New Zealand has won a landmark sexual harassment case against a business owner, and will receive a six-figure payout for “emotional harm and lost earnings”.

Michael Timmins, the director of the country’s human rights commission, said the case was an “important reminder to businesses across the country”, not just to sex workers, that everyone has the right to freedom from sexual harassment.  

"All workers, regardless of the type of work they do, have the right to freedom from sexual harassment in the workplace. We encourage all business owners and employers to ensure that they understand and respect those rights," Mr Timmins, who represented the sex worker in the case, said in a statement.

The payout is part of the settlement for the emotional damage suffered due to the harassment and was lauded by activists, who hailed it as a “milestone" for sex workers’ rights.

The details of the proceedings and the identities of the sex worker involved were kept confidential.  

The sex worker was represented by the Office of Human Rights Proceedings after the case was filed to a human rights review tribunal.  

Dame Catherine Healy of New Zealand Sex Workers Collective told BBC News it should serve as a “wake-up call" for businesses.

"It's great to see a settlement of this type has been awarded in the context of sex work to a sex worker," she said.

New Zealand decriminalised sex work in 2003, passing the New Zealand Prostitution Reform Act (PRA). The law allowed citizens over the age of 18 to sell sexual services and brothels were allowed to operate as legitimate businesses, requiring them to provide employment rights to their workers.  

The human rights review tribunal had earlier ruled that sex workers are protected under the Human Rights Act against harassment at work.

“Context is everything. Even in a brothel, language with a sexual dimension can be used inappropriately in suggestive, oppressive or abusive circumstances,” the tribunal said.

It said that it is not possible to determine if a “reasonable sex worker” would find such behaviour unwelcome or offensive.

“If in a brothel language or behaviour of a sexual nature could never be considered unwelcome or offensive, sex workers would be denied the protection of the act.”