Back to the Grind

After several months of headlines and hand-wringing in executive suites around Budapest, a landmark sexual-harassment arbitration case was finally settled this week. The action involved a certain István B, who was accused by his secretary of demanding sex in exchange for being able to keep her job, and for certain unnamed fringe benefits.

As in any country where headshots are still obligatory on professional c.v.'s, it was not your run-of-the mill western-style sexual-harassment case. For one thing, it took place at the Ministry of Equal Opportunity, the government agency in charge of ensuring that Hungary's workplace are free from this sort of wickedness.

Meanwhile, the plaintiff apparently charged that the defendant had failed to produce the fringe benefits in question, suggesting that at some point she had in fact yielded to the accused's advances. For his part, István B says he wasn't satisfied with his accuser's performance, which could also be taken one of two ways, or both, given the circumstances. It is likewise unclear if the secretary was unhappy with Mr. B's performance, though one would have to assume she was also not especially impressed.

Either way, the Ministry's arbitration panel ended up deciding in favor of Mr. B, who no doubt returned from his temporary suspension sore from all the back-slapping from his male co-workers. The larger consequences of the case are not clear. But the next time your boss walks by and pinches your ass, you probably shouldn't even bother threatening to report him to the authorities. Instead, we recommend you take matters in your own hands. And if you think he still doesn't get the message, dig in your fingernails a bit.