Mobbing in the Workplace according to Spanish Law

Mobbing in the workplace is identified with behaviors that aim to destroy communication networks of the victims who suffer them, eroding their reputation, and disturbing the development of their activity until finally it is achieved the voluntary abandonment of work through progressive and continuous damage to dignity of the worker, being a characteristic form of work stress, caused by interpersonal relationships that are established in the workplace, where the harassing party has more resources, support or a position higher than that of the affected worker who perceives that his harassers intend to cause him harm or wrong, which makes the situation especially stressful, without the individual knowing how to deal with these situations to modify their social environment, nor how to control the emotional reactions that it produces said process.

Failure in coping with situations and in controlling anxiety triggers a pathology typical of stress, which becomes chronic and progressively worsens.

In Spanish Law, mobbing in the workplace is an extremely broad concept that judicial doctrine has been profiling by establishing the following characteristic notes:

a) Impairment of dignity, which is appreciated when an attacking behavior concurs, creating aintimidating, hostile or humiliating context for the person.

b) Systematicity, reiteration and frequency that, according to the jurisprudence, requires an effective and serious pressure reiterated in time that in some sentences, based on Leymann's studies, materializes in: once a week for at least six months.

c) Intentionality of the harasser, that is, effective intention to cause harm.