What does the law say?
Since 2002, moral harassment has become a specific offense in France.
The law that protects all categories of employees specifies that “no employee should endure repeated acts of moral harassment that aim or result in a deterioration of working conditions likely to infringe on their rights and dignity, impair their physical or mental health, or compromise their professional future”.
Additionally, no employee can be punished, dismissed, or subjected to a direct or indirect discriminatory measure for having experienced or refused to endure such acts, for having testified about such acts, or for having reported them.
But be careful: a one-time verbal aggression or simple relational difficulties cannot be considered an act of moral harassment. The employee must experience repeated and characterized acts.
In general, hostile behaviors or those perceived as such by the employees can be categorized as follows:
- disrespectful behaviors: disparaging or slanderous remarks, sarcasm, exclusion…
- degrading assaults: insults, tendentious or degrading insinuations, humiliations or bullying, obscene insults…
- denial of work recognition: unjustified criticism, assignments of meaningless tasks or tasks unsuited to one’s skills, “shelving” or degrading working conditions…
What to do in case of moral harassment?
An employee who is a victim of moral harassment should not remain isolated. They can reach out to staff representatives, unions, the occupational physician, and of course, a lawyer who can intervene before a resignation or dismissal by guiding them to ensure the moral harassment stops.
The employee has the possibility to file a complaint with the public prosecutor and to act before the Labor Court, the employee must compile a complete and supported file demonstrating the pressures endured by relying on service notes, internal letters, medical certificates, or even colleagues’ testimonies.
An employee forced to resign by their employer must also mention all their grievances in their resignation letter.
If the moral harassment is established, the resignation will then be reclassified as unfair dismissal by the Labor Court. In this case, the employee can request the employer to be condemned to pay, in particular, damages, dismissal compensation, compensation for paid leave, compensation for notice, and compensation for leave during notice.
