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

In his messages Augustynowicz asked if she had any "horny" girlfriends, and "Can I date your daughter?"; he accused her of being rude and ignoring him, and called her a "bitch" for doing so.

In a written ruling handed down last month, tribunal adjudicator Enid Marion wrote that, "The texts were aggressive in tone, provocative and demeaning."

She noted that as the owner of Metro and McIntosh's employer, Augustynowicz "knew, or ought to have known, that his sexual comments and propositions were offensive, inappropriate, and unlawful in an employment context."

There are a number of ways to both protect yourself from unwanted text messages.

First of all, save them as evidence of the harassment, don't delete them, and report the incidents to the security department at your wireless carrier, as well as to the police.

If the texts are spam coming from a computer with an auto-dialer, Telus spokesperson 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.

As well, there are a growing number of free and paid services that will give you temporary, disposable phone numbers that can be forwarded to your phone that can be given out when you don't want to share your real phone number. Some pay services include www.tossabledigits.com and inumbr.com.