Workplace bullying

What it means

Workplace bullying, often called mobbing, is repeated, systematic and long-term psychological harassment of an employee by colleagues or a group of colleagues. When a manager does it, it is sometimes called bossing. It shows in humiliation, ridicule, gossip, isolation, withholding information or deliberately assigning pointless or impossible tasks.

Slovak law does not define mobbing explicitly, but it prohibits abuse of employment rights and obligations to another’s detriment and harassment. These prohibitions are found in the Labour Code and the anti-discrimination act, which works with the equal treatment principle.

The consequences are serious for both the employee and the company: stress, illness, sick leave, falling performance and good people leaving. Mobbing often shows up as unexpectedly high turnover in one team or repeated complaints.

How it works in practice

An employer must provide working conditions free of harassment and deal with employees’ complaints. We recommend a clear procedure in the works rules or code of ethics: to whom a complaint is made, who investigates it and how the complainant is protected.

A complaint must be investigated impartially and documented: hearing both sides and witnesses and securing evidence such as emails. If bullying is confirmed, measures follow, from a warning or reassignment to termination for breach of work discipline.

The employee can also turn to the labour inspectorate or a court and claim compensation for non-pecuniary harm. Companies required to have an internal whistleblowing system should make sure such reports can also be made safely and confidentially.

What to watch out for

The most common mistake by management is dismissing the problem as cabin fever or a personality clash and doing nothing. If the employer knows about the bullying and does not act, it can be liable for damage and non-pecuniary harm, and it will not help in a dispute that a colleague rather than the company did the bullying.

Watch out for retaliation against the complainant too. A reassignment, cut in bonus or dismissal shortly after a complaint may be judged by a court as punishment for exercising a right, which is a separate breach of the law. Any measure affecting the complainant must therefore be thoroughly justified.