Published Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Castlewellan woman Laurena Kane, 43, suffered years of abuse while working at Northern Ireland's biggest health trust.
Ms Kane won the four year legal battle with a judge at the High Court awarding her damages in excess of £20,000 after her employers admitted liability in relation to her being the victim of religious and sectarian harassment.
The abuse began in 2004 when she was the only catholic member of the Early Years team of social workers based at Knockbracken Healthcare Centre outside Belfast.
The verbal abuse included comments such as:
"I hate Catholics."
"Since those Catholics moved in there's an awful smell coming over the hedge."
"I bet you call him some Taigy name like Freedom."
Ms Kane said she had suffered in silence at the beginning.
She said: "I had great support from my family but I felt (at the beginning) I could not take it to my line manager because my line manager was present when the sectarian comments were being made and took no action to curtail them.
"It was not a nice environment at all. It was very difficult.
"It came to a head when a comment was made in the presence of two senior managers and I felt I could not take this humiliation with my team.
"I was very upset, I became ill, and mentally and physically affected," she said.
Ms Kane developed a depressive illness as a result of the intimidation and initiated legal action in 2008 because she was unhappy with how her employers had handled her complaint.
She lost her hair, suffering from the stress-related condition Alopecia.
A psychiatric evaluation in 2010 found that the illness was a direct result of her being subject to harassment at work.
Speaking on Wednesday after the end of the case, she said she knew she had to stand up.
"I know that I did the right thing and I have no regrets.
"I know this is potentially happening to other people and I think it takes someone to stand up against it and speak out about it," she said.
In a statement, Belfast Trust said that all allegations of sectarianism are taken very seriously.
The Trust said: "In this instance, we initiated a high level investigation and took appropriate disciplinary and other action against individuals who behaved in a totally unacceptable way. The issue of liability was part of the legal process."