Islamabad club managing committee member fired for sexual harassment

Club fined Rs1 million, half of which will be awarded as compensation to the victim

The Islamabad Club administration on Friday was directed by the secretariat of the federal ombudsman for protection against harassment at the workplace to immediately remove a member of its managing committee from his post with immediate effect.

The club was told to restore the female employee* while it was also slapped with a heavy fine of a million rupees, half of which will be awarded as compensation to the victim.

Federal Ombudsman Kashmala Tariq had conducted an investigation after an appeal was filed by the victim.

Tariq found that Islamabad Club managing committee member Sikendar Ismail was guilty of harassing a female club employee, who had joined as an assistant manager at a servicing section of the exclusive establishment in 2015.



“Her contract was renewed thrice based on her excellent performance. Ismail is a retired civil servant who was appointed as Islamabad Club managing committee member in 2017,” read a statement issued by the federal ombudsman’s office while detailing the case.

“When the victim’s contract was close to completion, Ismail started calling her to his office unnecessarily.”

The statement detailed that on September 21, 2017, Ismail detained the employee in his office for an hour and a half where he reportedly tried to entice sexual favours from her in exchange for extending her contract by using his position.

When the employee refused, Ismail — who was also the convener of the human resource and disciplinary committees of the club — initiated disciplinary proceedings against her. She was accused of using the club’s facilities such as the swimming pool by her daughter twice in 2016.

At this, the employee defended the use of facilities by pointing out that she had secured prior, verbal permission from the then general manager.

She then filed a complaint against Ismail to club’s general manager and to the Capital Administrative Development Division (CADD secretary.

Her contract was due to expire on October 21, 2017. Per club rules, if a contract is not extended, the employee has to be served a 15-days advance notice.

However, in this case, the employee was served a notice on September 23, 2017, nearly a full month before her contract was up and just two days after the incident in Ismail’s office.

The federal ombudsman decided the case in favour of the employee and directed the club to restore her to her previous position with all benefits she was getting since she had been proved as innocent in the case.

Apart from the million rupees fine, the club was also slapped with an additional Rs100,000 fine for not having a working anti-harassment committee under the Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act 2010.

Meanwhile, an official privy to the development told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity that the employee had to face immense hurdles in getting justice as power and influence were used to suppress her case at every stage.

The National Commission of Human Rights (NCHR), with whom a complaint was first filed against the harasser, could not pursue her case. Later, when the complaint was filed with CADD, her plea was heard and an inquiry was conducted but the results were never shared with her.



“The accused used influential people to suppress her case and discourage her to make her voice heard,” said the official.

“Afterwards, the Islamabad Club formed its own inquiry committee which was biased and in violation of the law. The committee had concluded its inquiry in favour of Ismail, which was set-aside by this office,” the statement from the ombudsman’s secretariat added.

Later, she approached the federal ombudsmen secretariat and filed a plea under the harassment at the workplace law. After thorough investigations, the decision was announced.

*NAME WITHHELD TO PROTECT IDENTITY

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2018.