Psychological harrassment at work conceptual, legal and preventive aspects

Abstract

Objective: Discuss conceptual, legal and preventive aspects of bullying at work. Methodology: A survey of national scientific publications about bullying at work from the legal view point was performed in 2004: books, articles published in journals indexed or not on SciELO and Lilacs in the period ranging from 2000 until 2004, laws and proffered sentences. Publications from the World Health Organization, International Organization of Work, European Agency for Health and Safety at Work among others provided information on conceptual and preventive aspects of bullying at work. Results e discussion: There is not a single consensual definition of bullying at work. Bullying can be vertical or horizontal. It is a continued violence, which aims to exclude the victim from work. Work situations which favor bullying at work include: management style, problems related to work organization and those resulting from the flexibilization of production. Bullying at work can cause or contribute to many health disorders. The most common diagnosis are depression and anxiety disorders, but also adjustment disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder can happen. The legal doctrine relates bullying at work to the theory of civil responsibility, to material damage as well as to moral damage. In the Federal sphere there are law projects being analyzed at the National Congress, aiming to regulate the bullying at work in criminal law. Other law projects on bullying at work refer to public workers and the Law of Public Licitations. Various laws were promulgated on the municipal and state spheres but they can be applied only to public institutions. Moreover, they refer only to vertical bullying at work (from the chief to the subordinate) Prevention of bullying at work begins with the identification of work factors that can contribute to bullying at work. To be effective, prevention should be based on the participation and cooperation of all the actors. Prevention can be primary, secondary or tertiary.