WRC rejects chef’s sexual harassment claim after finding nightclub responded appropriately

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Workplace Relations Commission rejected Serhat Aksakal’s sexual harassment claim against Kivaway2 Limited, which trades as the Odeon, after finding the employer took the complaint seriously and responded appropriately.

The adjudicator accepted that Aksakal experienced an incident with undeniable sexual undertones, but found the respondent had taken reasonable steps to prevent such conduct and that the workplace did not tolerate it. The employer’s investigation included ten meetings with up to seven staff members, according to a legal analysis of the decision.

Aksakal had alleged that the head chef thrust against him and shouted “yee-haw”. The adjudicator said she had no general issue with a complainant using ChatGPT to prepare a statement, provided “the language used perfectly reflects what happened”.