According to data from Brazil’s Superior Labor Court (Tribunal Superior do Trabalho/TST), 52,936 cases of moral harassment at work were registered there in 2021 alone. This is significantly greater than the previous year’s figures: 12,529 cases.
Although far from a new social phenomenon, as a topic moral harassment at work is quite recent within the legal environment. Decio Daidone Jr. – who holds a Master’s Degree in Labor Law and Procedural Labor Law from Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC/SP) and is a partner at Barcellos Tucunduva Advogados – explains that moral harassment is “humiliation, constant demands or exposure of the employee to vexatious or embarrassing situations, as well as unfounded criticism or persecution.”
Daidone also points out that harassment can affect a company’s general productivity as well as its reputation. For those who are harassed, alongside damage to honor and dignity, the situation can result in serious clinical and psychological problems. Therefore, management must intervene at the slightest sign of a problem.
“If actions by management take too long and there is more than one victim, this could be considered company negligence, since the latter already had facts, elements or indications of unruly behavior,” says Daidone.
The importance of the whistleblower channel and the consequences of harassment
According to Cassiano Machado, managing partner of ICTS Protiviti, the increase in reports is not necessarily a result only of a “boom” of new cases, but of new whistleblower channels within business environments (spontaneously created and also encouraged by Brazil’s 2013 Anti-Corruption Law); of increasing employee empowerment and protagonism within companies; and of recognition, by society, of how important formal complaints against harassment are – not long ago, they were seen negatively.
So, to combat moral harassment, a broad understanding of it alongside preventive and corrective actions must be a priority within companies. In this context, whistleblower channels have proven to be crucial, since companies can better react when harassment is identified early on.
By acting quickly, organizations can avoid serious consequences both to themselves and especially victims. Harassment can lead those affected to problems such as anxiety, depression, headaches, sleep disorders, and negative perception of the work environment, among others.
Moreover, the productivity of those who are harassed is obviously affected: errors increasingly occur, and companies face greater absenteeism and turnover.
How can companies combat harassment?
The great challenge of leadership in the face of moral harassment lies in the fact that it is often rooted in the organization's own culture. Many don’t realize or understand the seriousness of the problem. More than changing people's behavior, the context in which they coexist must be shaped, promoting true awareness and, with it, a permanent change in attitude.
To Deives Rezende Filho, specialist in ethics, diversity and inclusion and founding partner and CEO of Conduru Consultoria, what is happening nowadays is a kind of “refined harassment.” “New work models have brought with them new opportunities for harassment. While stress and excess work often end up making employees ill, abuse of power ends up destroying their self-esteem. Employees usually end up submitting to harassment because they feel like hostages, and fear being fired. There is no more time to wait: companies urgently need to combat harassment by investing in actions that identify it from the beginning”, he says.
Research by the Harvard Business Review reveals that unhappy employees produce up to 18% less when compared to the rest. A study by the iOpener Institute shows that, when motivated, employees are able to produce twice as much; take 10 times less leave; and increase their time in the same company by five.
To Deives, demands are a part of all corporate environments, especially those that work with goals. However, they must be made without any verbal excesses, threats, constraints or exposure of employees.
“Using a code of ethics, training with companies’ management bodies and with employees, code of conduct manuals, whistleblowing channels and HR training to quickly detect cases and resolve conflicts are just some of the actions that help to combat moral harassment. After it’s confirmed, companies must monitor it and train professionals who are capable of helping to solve the problem,” says Deives.
A clear understanding of the financial damages incurred by companies that are compliant with harassment helps. According to an analysis by ICTS Outsourcing based on information from the JusBrasil website – which connects people to Justice –, indemnity following a lawsuit for moral damages is worth, on average, R$ 17,423.00. Added to the 20% in legal costs, this can reach up to R$ 20,907.60.
“A company that manages to perceive and act on five qualified complaints of moral harassment per year will save about R$ 100 thousand by avoiding judicialization. This would have come directly from the company's results and can now be used for sustainability, boosting sales, operational efficiency, employee satisfaction and an ethical and transparent work environment," says Machado.
It is worth noting that, in Brazil, there are municipal and state laws that prohibit moral harassment within public administration. Bill 6757, towards comprehensive federal legislation, is also awaiting a formal report at the Brazilian Labor, Administration and Public Service Commission (Comissão de Trabalho, de Administração e Serviço Público/CTASP).
In this diffuse legal context, clauses within Brazil’s Federal Constitution, Civil Code and Consolidated of Labor Laws (Consolidação das Leis do Trabalho/CLT) have been used by the Judiciary to guide qualification and punishment of moral harassment within companies, whether private or state.
