Mobbing and employee protection

Mobbing presents a behavior in workplace that psychologically abuses or humiliates another person. Mobbing damages reputation, honor and dignity. In Croatia mobbing is regulated by the Labor Act, the Anti-Discrimination Act, the Gender Equality Act and the Criminal Code. We aim to outline the legal procedure for mobbing based on the Labor Act (hereinafter: LA).

1. Written complaint

If a worker encounters some form of abuse or harassment in the workplace, he or she has the right to file a complaint. If the employer employs at least twenty workers, he must appoint a person authorized to receive complaints related to mobbing. This person may not necessarily be an employee of the employer. If it is a small employer that does not have a named person, then the complaint is submitted to the management.

2. Procedure in case of submission of complaint

• Upon receipt of the complaint, the employer must, within 8 days, examine the complaint and take necessary measures to prevent further harassment.
• If the procedure hasn’t been finished within 8 days, or if the measures are inappropriate, the employee has the right to stop working. In case if employee stops working, the employee must, within 8 days, seek protection before a competent court.
• An employee may stop working even without filing a complaint in case of justified circumstances. The condition is that the employee has sought protection before a competent court within 8 days.

3. Examining the complaint

Regarding the process of investigating the complaint, the employer or appointed person to handle complaints should:

• interview the accused person and present the charges.
• interview the witnesses who have knowledge on the subject of the complaint.
• interview the complainant himself.
• collect any other material evidence available, such as an official e-mail or other correspondence.

4. The decision on the complaint

After all the interviews are done to determine the facts and circumstances of the case, it is necessary to decide on the complaint. The person appointed to resolve the complaints, is obliged to submit a report.

The final decision on the complaint is made by the employer. The employer should notify the person who filed the complaint and the person against whom the complaints were filed on the actions that were taken, in written form.

The decision to resolve the complaint may be:

1. disciplinary measure: notice or warning stating that such future behavior may result in termination of the employment contract.
2. organizational measure: changing the organizational scheme so that the persons who filed the complaints do not come into frequent contact or in communication with the person against whom the complaints were filed.
3. combination of measures from a) and b),
4. or a decision finding that no mobbing or dignity infringement has taken place, however, it is not necessary to make a specific decision, but it is recommended due to transparency of the procedure.

5. Sanctions

In case the employer would determine that there was mobbing or other kind of harassment of an employee, the employee would principally have a damages claim. Also, an employee could ask for an apology. In serious cases of mobbing, the employer should submit a criminal complaint.

If you decided to terminate your agreement, click this link to find out more about types of lay-offs in Croatian law.

Finally, it is very important to note that all information provided in the process of protecting the dignity of employees is secret.

Authors:

elena.musak@odvjetnik-bistrovic.hr

mislav.bistrovic@odvjetnik-bistrovic.hr