SEE - A Fortnight in Review February 13th

legal | by Milica Janković Milica Janković specialises in targeting the victim’s congenital or ac- Labour Law at Belgrade's JPM - quired traits which are irrelevant to the Janković, Popović & Mitić Law Firm (www.jpm.rs). She may be reached performance of a specific job, since that The Typology at [email protected]. would constitute discrimination. Serbian jurisprudence, because of the insufficient level of professional expertise and difficulties in obtaining proof, is still With some variations, the following typology of behaviours has been adopted by several steps behind in this field, both as a number of academic researchers. The typology uses five different categories: The Legal ‘Face’ 4 Discrediting the victim’s profession- compared to western European methods al and work capacity: Giving the victim in determining the existence of stress and > Threat to professional status – including belittling opinions, public pro- tasks that are far below or above his/her mobbing in the workplace and in terms fessional humiliation, accusations regarding lack of effort, intimidating use of of Mobbing capabilities, or not permitting the victim of the damages awarded to the claimant. discipline or competence procedures to do anything, criticising his/her slight- The Anti-Mobbing Law is quite “fresh” > Threat to personal standing – including undermining personal integrity, est mistakes and omissions, ridiculing (enacted in 2010), so the court practice destructive innuendo and sarcasm, making inappropriate jokes about target, The workplace becoming ever more complex (and the victim’s work and professional skills. is still underdeveloped. This Law governs persistent teasing, name calling, insults, intimidation complicated), it is high time we gave some space to our 5 Endangering the victim’s health: Apart the rights, obligations and responsibili- > Isolation – including preventing access to opportunities, physical or social (legal) expert, Milica Janković of the Belgrade law firm jpm, from direct attacks, mere submission to the ties of employers and employees in situ- isolation, withholding necessary information, keeping the target out of the to introduce the elementary concepts behind what appears regime of mental harassment has negative ations that could be termed harassment loop, ignoring or excluding effects, both mental and psychosomatic. in the workplace. > Overwork – including undue pressure, impossible deadlines, unneces- to be one of the worst labour- and workplace-related In mobbing, harassment or intimida- One of the more advanced solutions sary disruptions. st plagues of the 21 century – mobbing. tion is systematic, is usually done by sev- that this Law offers – which, however, > Destabilisation – including failure to acknowledge good work, allocation of eral persons, and it takes place persistent- has not yet been implemented in prac- meaningless tasks, removal of responsibility, repeated reminders of blunders, ly over a prolonged period of time, with tice – is the employers’ obligation to train setting target up to fail, shifting goal posts without telling the target. the ultimate goal of placing the affected employees to recognise the causes, forms employee in a state of continued stress, and effects of harassment. Employers are he term stress (lat. stringere – to Ignoring the victim, and ensuring that oth- thus encouraging him/her to terminate tense, to draw tight) is one of the er people do as well. Distancing the victim employment. Although mobbing can also How small - or most studied concepts in modern from sources of information, and physical- include sexual harassment in some cases, big - are we? further his/her own interests. Employees T And who's getting psychology, sociology and psychiatry lit- ly isolating him/her from colleagues. it does in fact differ from ‘typical’ sexu- the better of frequently turn to this solution to create erature today. Stress is a general, non-spe- 3 Discrediting the victim before co- al harassment in that mobbing is first and whom? the impression that notice given to them cific reaction of the organism to negative workers: Ridiculing and mocking the foremost about mental and emotional in- by the employer is unlawful, or to com- and harmful stimuli from the environ- victim, his/her family, background, past timidation. Also, mobbing should not be bat notices that they believe to be imped- ment, and as such constitutes the reaction and environment. confused with the forms of intimidation ing. A complaint lodged by the employee of an organism to perceived threats. One in the appropriate manner could great- of the most significant and most common ly complicate the termination procedure. sources of stress is mental and emotional Finally, every violation or abuse of harassment in the workplace – mobbing. Key Features rights has its legal remedy in an organised So, with all said and done, how do we legal system, so any employer or employ- recognise mobbing in practice? How do ee attempting to misuse the provisions of we fight it? the Anti-Mobbing Law for their own per- One of the clearest indicators of mob- Worplace bullying (or mobbing) has been the subject of a number or relative- also obligated to protect their employees However, the mobbing problem must sonal gain can be penalised by application bing is the lipt questionnaire (Leymann ly recent studies (Einarsen, 1999; Keashly & Harvey, 2004; Lutgen-Sandvik, from harassment, and if the prescribed not be viewed unilaterally. There are sit- of other related laws, with, of course, the Inventory of Psychological Terrorisation) 2006), which have reached a consensus as regards certain key features of their mechanisms prove to be inefficient, em- uations in which the employer can be the help of the relevant judicial institutions. which is used by managements world- subject matter; in any event, the pricipal bahavioural patterns of mobbing or ployees are entitled to seek protection of victim of an employee abusing his/her Though, again, let us not forget – as wide to assess whether mobbing at com- workplace bullying involve the following: the court. Still, most disputes are, with right to protection from mobbing. These both Hegel and Nietzsche posited in pany level exists. The five main ways to good legal counsel, settled through me- mechanisms should be used exclusively, their writings on the Master-Slave so- erode professional personality are: > Repetition (occurs regularly) diation in the form of an agreement, usu- and any employee abusing his/her right to cial dynamic – mobbing is a phenome- 1 Restricting the victim’s communica- > Duration (is enduring) ally with compensation paid out to the protection from harassment is to be held non which can be abused (or a tool which tion: The harassing person imposes his/ > Escalation (increasing aggression) victim, and without a court procedure. In liable for such abuse. Abuse of said right can be used) by both the employer and the her authority to determine what may and > Power disparity (the target lacks the power to successfully defend themself) the case of mobbing, the employer shall will be considered violation of work disci- employee. Let us never forget that, espe- may not be spoken of. The victim is de- > Attributed intent be held liable for damages caused by a re- pline, or violation of duties, if the employ- cially if operating in a country adhering nied the right to speak or to be heard. sponsible person or an employee to an- ee knows that he/she is not being har- to comparatively conservative labour laws 2 Restricting the victim’s social contact: other employee through mobbing. assed but still initiates the procedure to and practices.

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