A company that was engaged in providing evacuation services to a hotel for coronavirus patients during the pandemic on behalf of the State refused to evacuate an ill woman on the grounds that her clothing was not sufficiently modest.
The Court accepted the woman's claim for sexual harassment and prohibited discrimination. Israeli law stipulates that a provider of a public service shall not discriminate in the provision of service on the basis of race, religion, nationality, country of origin, sex or sexual orientation. Sexual harassment is defined as derogatory or humiliating treatment directed at a person in relation to their sex or sexuality. Here, the ambulance driver refused to evacuate the ill woman for medical evacuation, demanding that she change her clothes because, in his eyes, her clothing was not sufficiently modest. The demand was made on the street over a loudspeaker in a manner that humiliated the woman. Therefore, the company was ordered to compensate the woman.