As we all know, at present, different employment policies are now mandatory for all companies and if a company fails to draw them up it could be imposed labour sanctions, among other consequences.

One of these policies, which became mandatory by virtue of the Spanish Equality Act 3/2007 on sexual and gender-based harassment, is the famous protocol to prevent harassment that, in general terms, companies also extend to harassment in the workplace.

The Ministry for Equality issues its decision

The Ministry for Equality published a Reference Manual on this matter in October this year, along with two standard forms for a Protocol to prevent sexual and gender-based harassment in the workplace.

The aforementioned manual not only includes a purely theoretical part on harassment but also clarifies that all companies must adopt these kinds of protocols, after holding negotiations with their workers’ legal representatives, applicable to all the company’s staff, including workers recruited through a Temporary Employment Agency, employees that are taking non-remunerated internships and volunteers.

The manual proposes two different standard forms, depending on whether or not the company has an Equality Plan, since if it already has a plan the protocol will become part of it, recalling that, even if it does not have an Equality Plan, the protocol should be registered with the labour authorities.

Aspects of interest

The proposed standard form, which must not be deemed as mandatory, provides standard forms for reporting cases, it recalls that these reports can be secret but not anonymous and includes cases in which the person allegedly committing harassment may belong to the company or not, recommending that, if not, the employer of such person must be asked to adopt measures and be warned that the commercial relationship between both parties could be terminated.

Similarly, the Ministry’s guidelines recall that all standard forms must be adapted to the real situation of the company and provides some recommendations for terms and procedures, including standard forms of interest, which may be downloaded to allow some basic procedural terms and milestones for their development to be determined that can be summarised as follows:

As we have previously mentioned, all company protocols must have a common basis: they must be adapted to the company that publishes them; therefore, the manuals or guidelines, even if issued by the Ministry, must merely be considered as a reminder of the importance of their implementation by the company.

A protocol poorly adapted to a company’s real situation will be an ineffective tool. It will enable us to fulfil the regulations but will not be useful as a real management tool for a problem that is becoming increasingly common in companies.