National Labor Court: 'Coming out' conversation does not constitute sexual harassment

The National Labor Court has overturned a 100,000 shekel compensation award granted to a cyber company employee following her lawsuit against a former manager for sexual harassment. The court ruled that it was not proven that the manager sexually harassed the employee while she served as the company's human resources director.

The case originated from a 2.4 million shekel lawsuit in which the plaintiff alleged that the manager forced her into explicit sexual discourse and orchestrated her firing after she complained. The plaintiff claimed the manager suddenly began sharing graphic details of his sexual experiences. The defendant maintained that the conversation was intended to build trust, during which he shared an intimate detail about his sexual identity, specifically regarding a past visit to a strip club.

The court determined that the incident was a complex 'coming out' conversation of a married man, which did not contain a sexual message directed at the employee. A decisive factor was the plaintiff's failure to produce a recording of the conversation, which she claimed to have made. The judges further noted that the plaintiff was not a passive participant but had actively prompted the manager to speak candidly.

Despite overturning the compensation, the court decided against imposing legal costs on the plaintiff to avoid a 'chilling effect' on sexual harassment litigation.

Defense attorney Guy Planter stated: 'The importance of this ruling is that it reminds us that not every personal discourse in the workplace is sexual harassment.' Conversely, plaintiff attorney Roni Aloni Sadovnik criticized the ruling as a 'collapse of labor law values,' arguing that the core issue is the abuse of power when a boss uses a subordinate as a sounding board for personal dilemmas.