Mobbing
Grand Ducal Regulation and inter-professional agreement
Progress towards the prevention of moral harassment and violence at the workplace has been made in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg with the adoption of a Grand Ducal Regulation and an inter-professional agreement.
Since 15 December 2009, a Grand Ducal Regulation has given full legal effect to the Convention of 25 June 2009, so making it applicable to all companies established in Luxembourg.
How does this Luxembourg framework agreement of 25 June 2009 prevent harassment?
The framework agreement of 25 June 2009 is an agreement signed between the Luxembourg social partners, i.e. the UEL, OGB-L and LCGB.
This agreement embodies the directives set out in the European framework agreement which seeks to prevent and, where applicable, manage, situations of intimidation, harassment or physical violence at the workplace.
The Luxembourg agreement contains the following provisions:
- condemnation of all forms of harassment and violence;
- confirmation of the employer’s obligation to protect his workers against situations of harassment (zero tolerance policy);
- incentive to define procedures to deal with possible cases of harassment and violence at the workplace.
In other words, this agreement encourages companies based in Luxembourg to define a policy for the prevention of harassment and violence at the workplace.
This internal policy for the prevention of harassment must make the following arrangements:
- identify a competent discussion partner for the prevention of, and protection against, harassment at the workplace: a person of trust;
- put in place an internal procedure to deal with and investigate internal complaints rapidly, while respecting the principles of dignity, confidentiality, impartiality and equitable treatment of requests;
- define suitable measures to be taken against perpetrators of such acts, ranging from a disciplinary sanction to dismissal;
- help victims to benefit from support and, if necessary, assist their reintegration.
This Grand Ducal Regulation and agreement are a step forward in the prevention of moral harassment, but are not yet sufficient; a great deal of work remains to be done before a law on moral harassment can be adopted in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.