Fine for manager who touched subordinate's thigh, claimed he wanted to show her work attire policy
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- A 55-year-old manager noticed that an employee was wearing ripped jeans in the office
- He touched her on her thigh without her consent, claiming that he had done so to “illustrate the size of the hole in her jeans”
- The man, who was the woman's direct supervisor, then returned a second time to touch her
- He was sentenced to a fine of S$3,000, with four other charges taken into consideration for sentencing
BY NIKKI YEO
Published March 21, 2024
Updated March 21, 2024
SINGAPORE — Claiming that he wanted to show the company's work attire policy to a female subordinate who wore ripped jeans to work, a general manager touched her on the thigh twice.
The man, 55, was sentenced to a fine of S$3,000 after pleading guilty on Thursday (March 21) to two charges of using criminal force.
Four other charges — two for molest, one for insulting the modesty of a woman and another under the Protection from Harassment Act — were taken into consideration for sentencing.
The name of the man, victim and the company where they both worked cannot be published due to a court order protecting her identity.
WHAT HAPPENED
The man was the victim’s direct supervisor at the time of the offences.READ ALSO
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At around 12.55pm on May 21 in 2021, she was sitting at her desk in the office and wearing a pair of ripped jeans.
When the man was making his way to his office, he noticed her attire and stopped at her table.
He then told her that the company did not allow employees to wear such attire, to which she replied that it was her day off.
The supervisor replied that the company’s dress policy would apply to employees who were in office even if it was their day off.
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Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Thiagesh Sukumaran told the court that the man then touched a part of her thigh that was exposed by her ripped jeans without her consent, before returning to his office.
Slightly over an hour later, the man stopped at the victim’s table again, repeating his earlier actions “without warning” before walking away again, DPP Thiagesh added.
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Later that day, the victim sent a text message to the man and told him not to touch her again.
The man apologised and said that he had touched her on her thigh and knee to “illustrate the size of the hole in her jeans”, DPP Thiagesh said.
The victim later reported what had happened to the company, after which a police report was made.
The prosecution sought a total fine of S$3,000 for the man.
DPP Thiagesh said that the man’s culpability and the harm caused by his actions were “low”, thus a fine instead of a jail term would be appropriate.
However, he sought the maximum fine, given that the man was the woman’s superior at work, and such workplace offences are difficult to detect because victims are often hesitant to report such conduct out of concerns over the impact on their employment.
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Although the man had claimed that he had committed the offence to show that the victim’s clothing was inappropriate in the office, he had returned and touched her a second time, which was “completely unnecessary and inappropriate” since he had “illustrated his point” earlier, DPP Thiagesh added.
Agreeing with the prosecution, District Judge Wong Peck imposed the maximum fine of S$1,500 for each of the man’s two charges.
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In sentencing, the judge took into consideration one charge of molestation in 2020, one charge of insulting the modesty of a female victim in 2018, and an earlier instance of molest where the man flipped a woman's skirt in 2017.
All three incidents took place in the man's office.
Another charge under the Protection from Harassment Act for an offence — where the man sent a message to a woman over WhatsApp asking to see her body tattoos — was also taken into consideration for sentencing.
It is unclear if these four charges involved the same victim or different women. The victim's name for each case in the court documents was removed.
For each charge of using criminal force, the man could have been jailed for up to three months or been fined up to S$1,500, or have received both punishments.
