The primary objective of Law No. 1.457 of 12 December 2017 on harassment and violence at work is to secure relations between employers and employees against harassment, sexual blackmail and violence at work.
Workplace harassment is defined as knowingly and by any means whatsoever, in the context of an employment relationship, that a natural person commits repeated acts or omissions whose purpose or effect is a deterioration of working conditions that are detrimental to his/her dignity or that result in an impairment of his/her physical or mental health.
Sexual blackmail at work is defined as the fact, possibly repeated, in the context of a working relationship or a recruitment procedure, of using towards a natural person any form of serious pressure for the purpose of obtaining from him/her an act of a sexual nature, whether it be sought for the benefit of the author or a third party.
Workplace violence is defined as the threat or attack, physically or psychologically, of a natural person in the context of a work relationship.
The parties shall not engage in harassment, sexual blackmail and violence at work.
Harassment and sexual blackmail at work are punishable by six months to two years imprisonment and a fine of 18,000 to 90,000 euros, or only one of these two sanctions. The minimum of the prison sentence incurred is doubled when the offense was committed by several persons acting as an author or accomplice or when committed against a person whose vulnerability or dependence were apparent or known to its author.
Any sanction that would be taken by the employer, against the employee, to have testified or to have recounted it, will be null and of no effect.
Every employer must take all necessary measures to put an end to the facts mentioned above. To this end, the employer puts in place appropriate procedures to prevent such occurrences and, where appropriate, to identify and put an end to them. For it such purpose, he may appoint, within his company, a referent responsible for collecting the report of one of the facts. The employer then informs all employees of this appointment.
The appointment of a referent is mandatory for any employer legal person of public law, any company which exploits a monopoly conceded by the State and any person who usually employs more than ten employees.
Conversely, any employee who committed or incited the commission of the above-mentioned facts is liable to disciplinary sanctions, as well as any employee who deliberately makes a false statement.
Consequently, it is the responsibility of the person alleging being the victim of a fact mentioned above to establish, by any lawful means, the facts which make it possible to presume their existence.
The judge must then consider if, taken as a whole, these facts constitute a series of serious, precise and concordant indications allowing the presumption of harassment, sexual blackmail or violence at work.
To defend himself, the defendant has to prove that the facts thus established do not constitute harassment, sexual blackmail or violence at work and that the facts are the result of objective elements unrelated to any harassment, sexual blackmail or workplace violence.
The Employment Tribunal hears all disputes arising on the basis of this law with the exception of those involving officials or agents of the State, the Commune or public institutions.
He may, without prejudice to the compensation for the damage sustained, prescribe any measures to prevent or put an end to the injury above