ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Five immigrant workers have won a sexual harassment and discrimination case against one of France's largest cleaning companies.

The four women and one man who brought the case worked at the Gare du Nord train station in Paris for little more than the minimum wage cleaning the Eurostar, Thalys and other long-distance rail carriers.

"We were considered like trash but now, other women also have to speak out," said one of the workers, Houria Dahmani, minutes after hearing the court's decision. "We worked with fear, with anxiety, it's time to change that."

Although the amounts of money awarded were not significant, few sexual harassment cases in France are adjudicated at all, particularly against such a large company said Marilyn Baldeck, a lawyer for the European Association Against Violence Against Women at Work, which helped the workers in the long legal process.

The court concurred that the four women had been sexually harassed by a man who was their "team leader" at H.Reinier, a subsidiary of ONET. The harassment started with uncomfortable kisses and inappropriate touching but became more intrusive.

H.Reinier's lawyer Virginie Monteil said the company had not decided whether to appeal but had done an audit and was beginning a training programme for salaried employees and managers in "risk prevention".