Twelve women sue fresh produce giant over alleged sexual harassment

Twelve women who were seasonal workers at a giant South Australian tomato glasshouse are suing one of the country’s largest fresh produce companies for almost $4 million, alleging they were repeatedly sexually harassed at work.

The case, lodged last year in the Federal Court, has been brought by women who were employed by a labour hire company and performed contract work for Perfection Fresh at the Two Wells Glasshouse, a 43-hectare farm about 50 kilometres north of Adelaide.

The women say they were harassed while working at the largest glasshouse of its kind in the southern hemisphere.Credit: Adobe Stock

Documents released by the court to this masthead outline the workers’ claims of sexual harassment, which they allege was carried out by two men who were in positions of “authority, trust and control in relation to the applicants”.

The women claim sexual harassment was widespread across the workforce, an allegation denied by Perfection Fresh. A court order prevents identifying the women.

The first man is alleged to have made unwanted sexual advances and requests for sexual favours. He allegedly told one woman he wanted to have sex with her on work premises, offered to get them a motel room, asked to kiss her and regularly touched her in a sexualised manner.

In one alleged incident, while the woman was picking vegetables, he is said to have approached her from behind and pushed his hands down the front of her pants. He is alleged to have exposed himself several times at work, in one instance saying: “Can you have a feel of it; is it different from your husband?”

Another woman says that while she was cleaning a lunchroom, the same man exposed himself to her and pulled her hands towards his genitals before she struggled free and fled. She says that on more than a dozen occasions, he would come into the lunchroom while she was cleaning and expose his penis and ask her to touch or suck it.

While she was working in the rows where workers pick tomatoes in the glasshouse, on at least half a dozen occasions he allegedly unzipped his pants and grabbed her hands, aggressively pulling them towards his crotch and occasionally forcing her hands onto his penis.

The court documents say the second man is alleged to have touched, squeezed and grabbed the workers’ bottoms and breasts on dozens of occasions, and in one incident allegedly placed his hand between a woman’s legs.

The women say this man had supervisory responsibilities, but Perfection Fresh denies he was working in a supervisory capacity in respect to the women. He is also listed as a respondent in the case. His legal representative did not respond to a request for comment.

‘The conduct was outrageous. It involved the abuse of power by a superior against employees who were socially, racially, and economically vulnerable.’

A sentence from the workers’ court claim

In their claim, the workers say the men’s alleged conduct was in contravention of the Sex Discrimination Act and Perfection Fresh is liable for sexual harassment as it let the conduct occur and tolerated it by not having effective policies to prevent it. It also allegedly did not encourage workers to report sexual harassment and did not take prompt and efficient action on complaints.

“On each occasion the applicant was distressed, humiliated and offended, angered, embarrassed, ashamed, in many cases fearful, and, on the occasions of physical conduct, had their right to physical autonomy intruded upon. They suffered from stress and anxiety, and lost their enjoyment of life and the amenities of life,” the workers’ claim says.

“The conduct was outrageous. It involved the abuse of power by a superior against employees who were socially, racially, and economically vulnerable,” the claim says.

The women are seeking $3.905 million in compensation and damages, and want the court to order that Perfection Fresh conduct more training on sexual harassment and for the Australian Human Rights Commission to review the company’s procedures.

In its response lodged with the court, Perfection Fresh says the union first alerted it to a complaint of sexual harassment against the first man. He was suspended and an investigation was launched. The investigation substantiated several allegations and the man was fired.

Complaints of sexual harassment were then received about the second man, and he was suspended. He resigned a month later, so no investigation was undertaken. The company says that while some of the allegations were substantiated by their investigation, it was not aware of some of the other allegations in the court claim.

It argues it is not liable for any of the alleged conduct of the two men, as the company did not “cause, aid, instruct or permit the conduct to occur”, and it took all reasonable steps to prevent employees engaging in unlawful sexual harassment, including having policies in place which governed the conduct of employees and engaging all workers in a detailed induction process which outlined the expectations and who they should report issues to.

”The applicants are not entitled to the relief sought or at all,” it says in court documents. It denies the issues were widespread across the workforce and argues it took a proactive and swift approach to complaints.

Perfection Fresh is one of the country’s largest private fruit and vegetable growers. It owns exclusive rights to grow a number of popular varieties including broccolini and qukes (mini cucumbers) and is a major supplier to the supermarket chains. It operates farms across the country, including the Two Wells tomato glasshouse, the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere.

Caterina Cinanni, the farm sector executive director at the United Workers Union, has been supporting the 12 women who have brought the claim.Credit: Jason South

The United Workers Union is representing the workers, with farm sector executive director Caterina Cinanni describing it as “one of the biggest cases against workplace sexual harassment and assault” brought before the Federal Court.

“It must be the responsibility of an employer to provide a safe workplace free from gendered workplace violence especially when the employment model increases a power imbalance, as it does for women that come to work in the horticulture sector in Australia on the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) program,” she said.

“What these women are doing is not an easy thing to do ... They are taking a stand to hold one of the biggest and wealthiest growers accountable because change needs to come from the top in this industry and in this country. These workers want women to be safe at work.”

A Perfection Fresh spokesman said the company took any allegation of sexual harassment extremely seriously and it had responded accordingly to the complaints against the two employees.

“Perfection Fresh acknowledges the very serious nature of the complaints and the distress this has caused for the women involved,” he said. “We are committed to continuing to provide a safe workplace for all employees and look forward to resolving this legal matter amicably.”

It’s not the first time there have been issues raised about conditions at the South Australian glasshouse. In 2015, the ABC’s Four Corners program reported worker underpayment and exploitation of workers at the glasshouse, which was operated by Perfection Fresh, then known as D’Vine Ripe. In response the company terminated its contracts with the labour-hire firm caught up in the scandal.

Cinanni said the union had supported workers in 2015 to speak to the media about sexual harassment and other workplace abuses at the glasshouse, and it was disappointing to see that similar conduct was again being alleged at the same premises.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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