A Vancouver-area woman has been awarded nearly $30,000 after winning a human rights case against her boss who harassed her with a series of sexually suggestive and abusive text messages.

In the latest incident in what is a growing trend referred to as textual harassment, where text messages are used to intimidate and harass recipients, Lisa McIntosh complained to the BC Human Rights Commission against Zbigniew Augustynowicz, the owner of Metro Aluminum Products Ltd.

McIntosh said she had a brief consensual sexual relationship with Augustynowicz after she was hired at the firm in early 2008.

He told her he was separated from his wife, but she later discovered that was not true.

When she broke off the affair, he sent her a stream of unwanted sexual text messages between June 27 and Sept. 22, 2008.

On just one day in July, Augustynowicz sent her the following messages:

"Any horny girlfriends"

"Guess not"

"Can I date your daughter?"

"R u ignoring me"

"U are being rude again"

"The hell with u, I tried" On Sept. 9, while she was away on stress leave, the messages continued.

"Still being yourself?" "Any horny girlfriends?"

"Still acting like a bitch?"

"This is your boy-toy."

In a written ruling handed down this month, tribunal adjudicator Enid Marion ruled that, "Mr. Augustynowicz's repeated sexual comments were of a serious nature."

"The texts were aggressive in tone, provocative and demeaning," she added.

Marion noted that as the owner of Metro and McIntosh's employer, Augustynowicz was in a position of authority over her and responsible for ensuring that she was employed "in a workplace free of sexual harassment."

"He knew, or ought to have known, that his sexual comments and propositions were offensive, inappropriate, and unlawful in an employment context," Marion wrote in the reasons for decision.

McIntosh told the hearing that stress from Augustynowicz's harassment aggravated a continuing medical problem with ulcerative colitis, pushed her to the verge of a nervous breakdown and forced her to leave her job.

The commission awarded her $14,493.80 as compensation for lost wages and $2,900.85 as reimbursement for expenses incurred in pursuing her claim.

As well, she was awarded $12,500 as damages for injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect.

Augustynowicz did not show up for the tribunal hearing, claiming he was too ill to attend.

gshaw@vancouversun.com

PROTECT YOURSELF FROM UNWANTED TEXT MESSAGES

- Don't delete the texts, save them as evidence of the harassment.

- Contact your wireless carrier and report the incident to the security department as well as to the police.

- If the texts are spam coming from a computer with an auto-dialer, Telus spokesman Shawn Hall said the wireless carrier can block them from the network.

- If you know the source of the harassing texts, ask your carrier if they can be blocked. Hall said it may be possible to block them depending on where the number originates. However, the stalker could change or spoof their number or restrict it so you can't identify the source.

- Treat your mobile number with the same level of care that you treat your credit card; don't put it online, don't make it publicly available. Only share your cell number with people you trust.

- There is a growing number of free and paid services that will give you temporary, disposable phone numbers that can be forwarded to your phone.

Among other uses, they can be given out when you don't want to share your real phone number with someone, such as an acquaintance from a dating website. Some pay services include www.tossabledigits.com and inumbr. com.