Six out of ten reported cases of violence and harassment in the workplace are perpetrated by employers or persons exercising managerial authority or representing the employer, according to the results of the annual report of the relevant department of the Labor Inspectorate.

Four out of ten cases involve another employee or another employee working for the same company.

The vast majority (91%) of complaints relate to cases of violence, verbal, physical and moral or psychological harassment, and the remaining 9% are sexual harassment.

According to a 2022 report from the Office of Independent Monitoring of Violence and Harassment at Work, 38% of victims are male and 62% female.

As for the sectors of activity of companies reporting such incidents, in descending order they refer to trade, catering, hotels, food processing, transport, construction and healthcare.

Out of 151 complaints filed and processed:

– 51 cases (34%) resolved out of court with the complained business taking proper and appropriate action and making appropriate recommendations.

– 24 cases (16%) were dismissed either because the applicant did not appear for the scheduled discussion, or because of the corresponding written statement of the latter, or because specific cases of violence and harassment were not further analyzed during the discussion, so that they may be subject to the special procedure of Article 18 of Law 4808/2021.

– In 65 cases (43%) recorded – by the labor relations inspector conducting the procedure – a motivated recommendation to apply to the competent courts, in connection with conflicting claims on controversial factual and legal issues requiring judicial assessment.

– In 11 cases (7%), appropriate sanctions were imposed, based on the current regulatory framework, for a total amount of 29,950 euros. In 2022, as stated in the relevant message, a register of employers is being maintained against which an administrative penalty has been applied for violating the ban on violence and harassment in the world of work, not only as part of labor disputes, but also based on the results of on-site inspections. will be activated. The total amount of fines imposed is 37,050 euros.

The annual report on the activities of the independent department of the Labor Inspectorate on violence and harassment is available on the website of the Independent body.

Source: RES-IPE