El acoso moral en el trabajo

Abstract

The phenomenon of workplace bullying is as old as work itself, although it was not until the 1980s that experts from disciplines other than law, such as psychology or psychiatry, began to take a greater interest in studying and tackling this social problem. In the absence of labour legislation on the subject, it is essentially the High Courts of Justice in Spain that have been responsible for developing a concept of harassment and delimiting the elements that make up such conduct. From the 2000s onwards, the Labour Chamber of the High Courts of Justice began to hear these cases, and to draw up various lines of judicial doctrine, which have remained practically unchanged to the present day. In this context, the scientific doctrine began to consider the need to draft a rule regulating moral harassment at work. As a result, a second paragraph was introduced to article 173.1 of the Penal Code, but the labour legislation remained unchanged in this respect. In 2019, the International Labour Organisation published Convention 190 against violence and harassment in the world of work, which Spain is about to ratify. The convention requires ratifying states to develop legislation prohibiting violence and harassment in the world of work. In this context, this doctoral thesis analyses the current labour treatment of moral harassment at work in Spain, on the basis of the existing legislation that may be applicable, the decisions of the courts, the postulates of scientific doctrine, and studies the modifications that can or should be made in this area, especially in the light of the ratification of ILO Convention No. 190...