Romanian cleaning lady sexually harassed by her boss wins at ECHR over the state

A maid who works in a train station in Timiș County defeated Romania at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), where she sued the Romanian state that she was sexually harassed by her boss, after the Romanian failed to serve her justice. The decision of the Strasbourg Court represents an important precedent for cases of sexual harassment in Romania.

According to ECHR ruling, the Romanian state must pay the woman moral damages of 7,500 euros, clujust.ro reports.

The courts in Romania had closed her case on the ground that what happened to her “was not so serious”.

Mrs. C, the claimant, was employed in a cleaning firm. In 2014 she was assigned to do cleaning at Timisoara East train station, which was part of CFR state company. The cleaning lady stayed there till October 2017.

On November 3, assisted by a lawyer, the woman filed a criminal complaint at the Prosecutor’s Office upon Timisoara Court against C.P., the director of the train station, accusing him of having made a pass to her for over two years. As she had constantly refusing to accept his sexual proposals, the boss started to terrorizing the woman at work.