Kränkande särbehandling på arbetsplatsen - Arbetstagarens skydd mot mobbning och trakasserier

Sammanfattning: Victimization is a concept that mainly contains adult bullying, harassment and sexual harassment. Victimization through bullying is regulated in Swedish law primarily through the work environment legislation, since it is considered to be an organizational issue. The work environment shall according to the Swedish Work Environment Act be satisfactory and the employer shall take all the precautions necessary to prevent the employee from being exposed to health hazards. There is also an ordinance that specifically regulates victimization in the workplace. The Swedish Work Environment Authority ensures compliance with the work environment legislation. The work environment legislation does not contain any rules on compensation, however an employee who becomes ill as a result of victimization can receive sickness benefits under the social security legislation. An employer who fails to take sufficient measures to prevent and address victimization may be convicted of a work environment offence, however the legal position is not entirely clear. In February 2014 a Swedish District Court sentenced two bosses for work environment offence by involuntary manslaughter, since they had not taken sufficient measures to investigate alleged bullying in the workplace. The judgment has been appealed. If the victimization is associated with one of the grounds of discrimination sex, transgender identity or expression, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation or age, or is of a sexual nature, the Swedish Discrimination Act may apply. According to the Discrimination Act an employer may not subject an employee to harassment or sexual harassment and he or she has an obligation to investigate and take action when having the knowledge that an employee feels subjected to harassment or sexual harassment. An employer who violates this provision may be sentenced to pay compensation for discrimination. The consequence for an employee who harasses or bullies another employee may be that he or she is terminated, dismissed or reassigned. The Swedish Criminal Code also contains some provisions that may apply to some serious forms of victimization. The protection of an employee who is subjected to victimization depends largely on the expression of the victimization. An employee who is subjected to harassment or sexual harassment has a considerably stronger protection than an employee who is subjected to bullying, since the Discrimination Act is civil law, while the Work Environment Act is public law. This means that an employee who believes that an employer violates the Work Environment Act lacks opportunities to initiate proceedings against the employer.