THE U.S. IS ONE OF THE LAST INDUSTRIALIZED NATIONS TO ADDRESS WORKPLACE ABUSE (ALSO KNOWN AS BULLYING, MORAL HARASSMENT, PSYCHOLOGICAL HARASSMENT, AND POWER HARASSMENT).
So who’s already addressed it, and what do their laws do?
1993: Sweden
Ordinance Concerning Victimisation at Work
1996: Belgium
Act on well-being of workers in the performance of their work (includes criminal liability)
1997: United Kingdom
Protection from Harassment Act
1999: The Netherlands
Working Conditions Act
2001: Spain
Working Conditions Act
First to frame workplace abuse as an occupational health and safety hazard
2002: Finland
Occupational Safety and Health Act
2002: France
Social Modernization Law
Labor Code: Chapter II: Moral Harassment
Penal Code: Article 222-33-2
Includes criminal liability (under “Moral Harassment”)
2003: Turkey
Article 417 of the Debts Act
2004: Canada
Quebec Labour Standards Act
Quebec only
2004: Norway
Working Environment Act
2021: Denmark
Working Environment Act
Three takeaways:
- They all call for employer accountability.
- They have had a positive impact on business goals.
- They have not resulted in a clogging of the courts.
In 2019, the International Labor Organization, an UN agency which promotes decent work for all people, passed the Violence and Harassment Convention. This convention sets international standards for preventing and responding to violence and harassment at work, including gender-based violence. Nineteen countries, including Italy, Greece, and Mexico as well as Great Britain and Spain, have ratified the convention and are bound to enforce it.
In 2020, Puerto Rico became the first U.S. territory to pass workplace anti-abuse legislation, the Law to Prohibit and Prevent Workplace Harassment.
Like international laws, the Puerto Rico law calls for prevention and elimination of abuse at work according to Article 5 of the law.
All Americans deserve a psychologically safe workplace, too.
Sources:
https://anannkefoundation.org/international-workplace-bullying-laws/
https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C190
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