Department store counter girl was sexually harassed, threatened and raped by co-workers. Supervisor even touched her head, "reporting it will affect operations"

A female counter employee at a well-known department store in Kaohsiung complained of long-term sexual harassment by her male colleagues. She was not only secretly photographed on the legs, verbally humiliated, but even threatened to "find someone to rape you." The female employee reported it to her supervisor but was persuaded to keep the matter quiet and said that "reporting it would affect operations." The judge found that the male colleague and the company failed to fulfill their duty of prevention and ordered to jointly and severally compensate the counter sister NT$120,000.

The verdict pointed out that Xiaomei (pseudonym) worked as a counter clerk in a well-known department store in Kaohsiung. Since September 2024, her colleague, a man surnamed Wen, had repeatedly sexually harassed Xiaomei in the workplace. Not only did Wen take advantage of Xiaomei's break in the warehouse, he used his mobile phone to secretly take pictures of her legs wearing garters and hollow lace. He also laughed at other colleagues and asked Xiaomei to stand up and spin around for him to see. Xiaomei refused, and Wen actually showed the photos to other male colleagues for comment.

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Mr. Wen even threatened Xiao Mei in person many times, "If you do this again, I will ask someone to rape you!", "Your feet are very beautiful, I will definitely fuck you to death!", "You have big breasts today!" and other vulgar words that were extremely sexually suggestive and sexually violent, which caused Xiao Mei's physical and mental trauma, and she suffered from generalized anxiety disorder and depression.

Xiaomei couldn't bear the long-term humiliation. She verbally reported it to the store manager in March 2025 and complained to the district manager in April. Unexpectedly, the district manager tried to persuade her to settle the matter on the grounds that "reporting it will affect the department store operation" and "affect your interpersonal relationships." It was not until Xiaomei called the police on her own and the police intervened in the investigation that the company formally established an investigation and transferred her to other stores.

Xiaomei was dissatisfied and believed that the company failed to fulfill its employer's duty to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, so she filed a lawsuit against Wen Nanhe's company for 1 million yuan in compensation. During the trial in the Kaohsiung District Court, the judge determined that Wen Nan's filming and verbal sexual harassment had seriously endangered Xiaomei's personal dignity and constituted a hostile work environment. At the same time, the company supervisor did not take "immediate and effective corrective and remedial measures" after receiving the notification, but instead attempted to cover it up, violating the "Gender Equality Work Act." Therefore, Wen Nan and the company were jointly and severally ordered to compensate 120,000 yuan, and they can appeal.