As of July 14, 2022, all companies with employees must have and implement internal harassment protocols to detect, prevent and cease discriminatory situations. In addition to a very serious administrative sanction, non-compliance may result in other implications and economic consequences for companies.
It is necessary that all companies have a protocol for the prevention and action against any type of harassment to prevent, raise awareness and, where appropriate, attack with all the guarantees these forms of violence and discrimination in the workplace.
On July 14, 2022, Law 15/2022, of July 12, 2022, on equal treatment and non-discrimination came into force (published in BOE de 13 de julio).
The purpose of this new Law is to prevent and eradicate any form of discrimination and to effectively protect victims in all areas of society, including the workplace. According to the explanatory memorandum of the Law, the aim is to transpose the objectives and purposes of Directives 2000/43/EC and 2000/78/EC in a more appropriate manner, as well as to incorporate certain constitutional jurisprudence on Article 14 of the Spanish Constitution (EC).
One of the most relevant novelties around employment, following the normative guideline of Organic Law 3/2007, of March 22, 2007, for the effective equality of women and men, is the obligation of companies, regardless of the number of workers they have, to have and apply instruments to detect, prevent and cease discriminatory situations.
In this sense, it is necessary that all companies have a protocol for the prevention and action against any type of harassment to prevent, raise awareness and, where appropriate, attack with all the guarantees these forms of violence and discrimination in the workplace.
Failure on the part of the companies to have and apply the referred harassment protocols not only implies a very serious administrative infraction, which can be sanctioned by the Labor Inspectorate with fines of up to 500,000. -Euros, but it can also have important economic implications and consequences for the company in those cases in which the worker sues for null dismissal or in claim for damages, arguing the existence of harassment in the company, since if a situation of discrimination occurred within the company and these obligations had not been complied with, the company could be liable for the damage caused, being obliged to reinstate the dismissed worker and to compensate him/her for the damages caused.
From our firm we offer our clients the possibility of downloading the referred harassment protocols free of charge, although, as the legal regulations indicate, it is not enough to have them, but the company must implement and apply the necessary instruments to detect, prevent and cease discriminatory situations, constituting complaint channels, providing training to its workers in this matter, holding follow-up meetings, etc.
It is for this reason, and in order to help our clients comply effectively with the aforementioned regulations, we have a specific service from our legal area so that all our clients can comply with the legal obligation to have and apply the aforementioned harassment protocols in labor matters, so if you want us to process, both the protocol and the training and other instruments necessary to comply, you can send us an email to gremicat@gremicat.es and we will send you a budget for this purpose.
For more information, please contact our Legal Department
