More than three-quarters of staff in the hospitality sector face verbal abuse on a regular basis, while more than half say they have experienced harassment or bullying. That is according to a new study into the conditions faced by staff working in hotels, bars and restaurants by Dr Deirdre Curran, a lecturer at NUI Galway's School of Business and Economics and Whitaker Institute. Her investigation, "Inside-Out Hospitality: An Exploration of Working Conditions in the Hospitality Sector in Ireland", focused on the 'widespread abuse of employment rights', where staff are treated with 'no dignity and no respect', according to Dr Curran. She said that an absence of data on the issues in the sector prompted her research. She read out excerpts from the submissions, including staff detailing accounts of being physically and verbally abused in the workplace, and instances of sexual harassment.

Source: Irish Examiner October 14, 2019 12:33 UTC