Sexual harassment lawsuits grow 21% in 2021

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A survey by the Superior Labor Court (TST) reveals that Brazil registered more than 27,390 actions on sexual harassment in the Labor Courts between January 2015 and June 2021. Only in the first half of this year, 1,477 cases were opened, an increase of more of 21% compared to the same period last year.

The sectors of commerce, services and industry lead the list of actions and, together, add up to more than 14,687 cases. Although it has been considered a crime since 2001, this type of violence is still relativized and faced with a certain normality in the work environment. O forensic interviewer and compliance attorney, André Costa, states that this reality requires the implementation of prevention and combat policies. “Organizations need to have a unique structure to take care of corporate compliance. For small and medium-sized companies who are unable to hire someone exclusively for this purpose, it is essential to have an interrelationship between the legal, HR and operations areas so that they can make decisions with a minimum of common sense", he claims.

Recently, a 31-year-old saleswoman was fired from a telephone store after denouncing her manager and a co-worker on the company's internal channel for attempted rape. “Despite the mistaken and disastrous result of the complaint, she did the right thing. In addition to filing a police report, the victim must file a formal complaint, keep the protocol, gather evidence, pass on the information in a structured manner and through the company's correct channel, because if dismissed, they can appeal to the Labor Court to demand that your rights are respected", guides.

According to Costa, the action can take place in the labor and criminal spheres. “The person can file a process called indirect termination, through which they can receive all rights as if they had been fired, and still proceed with the criminal complaint for harassment or sexual harassment. When the aggressor is convicted, she can still file a civil lawsuit seeking monetary damages for the inconvenience he caused", he claims. According to the lawyer, companies can also be sued for moral damages because they are co-responsible for the damages suffered by the victim.

Prevention and combat
The specialist, who has worked for over 10 years investigating cases of sexual and moral harassment in the corporate environment, says that companies are responsible for what happens and need to have an exclusive department to ensure the protection of employees and, consequently, their image . “Large corporations need a dedicated team to analyze complaints impartially and correctly. What happened to the case reported recently by the press is completely illegal and, in addition to bringing incalculable damage to the victim, it will damage the company's image", he claims.

Processos por assédio sexual crescem 21% em 2021 1
André Costa is a forensic interviewer and lawyer specializing in moral and sexual harassment/Disclosure

According to him, the example of conduct must come first from the top management. “If senior management does not set an example and if the company does not have an exemplary posture, which is a dismissal for just cause of the aggressor and exposes that it does not agree with this, the culture and the organizational climate end up contaminated. The biggest loser is the company that has the wear and tear of its image because it does not have strong compliance, which works properly", alert.

Costa says that companies must adopt policies such as the Integrity Program created in 2016 by the Federal Controller General (CGU) to ensure a sustainable culture. The structure developed by the institution is based on four pillars: commitment and support from senior management; responsible unit and integrity instances; integrity risk management; and ongoing monitoring strategies. "If the company does not have these steps, we will probably still see many cases of harassment happen because the fight does not have the support of senior management", it points out.

Companies, says the compliance expert, can take several measures to prevent crime. In addition to educational actions, it is necessary to carry out a risk analysis of the work environment and adopt actions in order to minimize the occurrence of this type of crime. “A manager has this type of behavior and people think it's normal. The seller's case makes it clear that there is no adequate risk analysis, the room where the crime took place does not have a surveillance system, perhaps it does not have clear rules and instruments, the employees do not know that they can be fired and they are not aware that this is very serious", complete.

Number of processes registered between January 2015 and June 2021 

  • Urban Services 184
  • Public Administration 221
  • Data Processing Companies 275
  • Agriculture, Vegetal Extraction and Fishing 348
  • Social Security 405
  • Education, Culture and Leisure 650
  • Domestic Services 729
  • Financial System 790
  • Communications 857
  • Transportation 1,027
  • Tourism, Hospitality and Food 2,088
  • Industry 3871
  • Miscellaneous Services 4,853
  • Others: 5,129

(Source: TST)

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