Internal Procedures on Work-related Bullying Complaints Critical Points

Abstract

Internal procedures on bullying complaints are nowadays a common feature in the practice of industrial relations in many countries and international organisations. The legal grounds to implement them can be the employers' duty of care within the framework of occupational safety and health legislation or as a mechanism of internal remediation for the protection of labour human rights. Procedures are not always provided by legal rules but they can facilitate employers how to cope with these behaviours. The nature of these procedures is not disciplinary but preventive, their aim is to avoid bullying. Requirements so that procedures can work efficiently are that workers can participate on them, that persons who manage procedures should be neutral, trained and have enough power to carry out their tasks, to proceed with necessary discretion to protect the dignity and privacy of the Parties involved and to insert operative mechanisms in order to avoid inappropriate complaints, protect complainants and witnesses, prevent interruptions and delays and adopt resolutions and measures when bullying has occurred.