Clients have been asking us lately if training their employees and managers on workplace harassment is mandatory by law.
Although both ๐๐ข๐ธ ๐๐ฐ. 202/2002 ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ and the newly passed ๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ. 970/2023 – ๐๐ถ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ-๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ do mention that employers have to train their employees on workplace harassment, employers are risking no fines if they decide not to do so, unless obliged by the Labour Authority.
Nevertheless, it is not the fines that should determine employers to train their employees on workplace harassment but the many challenges they are facing in practice.
๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ? The complexity and sensitivity of such issues in your organization are far more scary than any potential fines applied by the Labour Authority.
It is for these reasons mentioned above that we have always encouraged our clients to conduct awareness trainings within their organization. And whenever they did so, they couldnโt thank us enough for the โaha-momentsโ our awareness trainings sparked within their employees.
If you want to enjoy the liberating feeling of not having to deal with false or serious harassment allegations in your organization or fear court claims brought by employees, you already know whom to contact.
Through our case law based and interactive in-house trainings your employees and managers get an insight into all challenges on workplace harassment they need to be aware of in order to drive organizational success.
This article was first published by our Romanian member firm Suciu – Employment & Data Protection Lawyers. Reach out to our representative Andreea Suciu for more insights on this topic and more.
