Harassment is not only sexual. There are other forms of harassment at work that also harm health and dignity. In this lesson you will see how to tell them apart and what the law says.
Bullying at work (acoso laboral or moral)
There is no single definition in an employment law. The courts and the Labour Inspectorate describe it in a similar way: hostile or humiliating conduct, repeated and sustained over time, directed at one person and harming their dignity or health. It usually comes from a superior, but it can also come from colleagues or from subordinates.
Common examples:
- Shouting at, insulting or ridiculing someone in public, again and again.
- Isolating someone: not speaking to them, not giving them information, leaving them out of meetings.
- Taking away their tasks for no reason, or giving them impossible work, or work far below their grade, in order to humiliate them.
- Obsessive monitoring, or threatening dismissal for no reason.
- Spreading rumours or false criticism.
What is not harassment
- A one-off conflict or an argument.
- A lawful instruction within the employer's powers, even if you do not like it: changing a shift, asking for a result, correcting a mistake respectfully.
- A performance review carried out with clear criteria.
Poor management, with stress or pressure, can be a psychosocial risk that the employer must prevent, even if it does not amount to harassment. The difference is that harassment is aimed at someone and is repeated.
Discriminatory harassment
This is harassment linked to a protected ground. The law prohibits it in these cases:
- Racial or ethnic origin.
- Religion or belief.
- Disability.
- Age.
- Sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
- Sex (which you already know).
The Estatuto de los Trabajadores (article 4.2.e) recognises the right to protection against harassment based on racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation, and against sexual harassment and harassment based on sex. Ley 15/2022 on equal treatment and Ley 4/2023 extend protection to sexual identity, gender expression and sex characteristics, and LISOS now also penalises those forms of harassment (article 8.13 bis).
Digital harassment
It can happen through messaging, social media, email or video calls: insults in WhatsApp groups, photos circulated, threatening messages outside working hours. Ley Orgánica 3/2007, after the 2022 reform, expressly mentions the digital sphere. The right to digital disconnection also protects against pressure outside working hours.
ILO Convention 190
Spain has acceded to Convention 190 of the International Labour Organization on violence and harassment in the world of work, in force for Spain since 25 May 2023. It recognises everyone's right to a world of work free from violence and harassment, and also covers trainees, volunteers and job seekers. It also applies to travel, events and communications related to work.
What the law says for employers
- The Ley de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales (Occupational Risk Prevention Act) requires the employer to protect the safety and health of its staff, including psychosocial risks. The Labour Inspectorate guides its work with technical criteria: Technical Criterion 104/2021, on psychosocial risks, keeps Technical Criterion 69/2009, on harassment and violence at work, in force.
- Discriminatory harassment, sexual harassment or harassment based on sex towards another person in the company is grounds for disciplinary dismissal (Estatuto de los Trabajadores, article 54.2.g). Other forms of harassment may fall under other grounds, such as verbal or physical offences (article 54.2.c).
- The person harassed can ask for the termination of their contract with compensation when the employer seriously breaches its obligations (article 50 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores).
- In the most serious cases, the Criminal Code punishes anyone who, taking advantage of a position of superiority in an employment relationship, repeatedly carries out hostile or humiliating acts that amount to serious harassment of the victim, even if they do not amount to degrading treatment (article 173.1).
What to remember
- The employer is responsible for preventing and for acting when it learns of a case.
- Harassment harms health: anxiety, insomnia, depression. If it is caused by work, the harm can be recognised as an occupational contingency.
- Asking for help is not exaggerating.