Kränkt eller trakasserad? - En utredning av hur arbetsgivarens ansvar och skyldigheter enligt två lagar samverkar och motverkar varandra

Sammanfattning: Today employees spend nearly a third of their waking hours in the workplace where harassment and victimization continues to be a current problem. Employers have a broad responsibility when it comes to remedying these problems, both through the Work Environment Act and the Discrimination Act, but exactly how this responsibility is actualized in practice and how the two different regulations work together is not entirely clear. The purpose of this essay is to find out what the employer's responsibilities and obligations are to prevent, investigate and take measures regarding victimization according to the Work Environment Act and harassment according to the Discrimination Act and how these statutes work together and potentially counteract each other. Using the legal dogmatic method, which is based on the generally accepted sources of law, an account and analysis have been made. The two constitutions work together in many ways, including that they both have a progressive purpose and that the employer's responsibility is extensive. On the contrary they also counteract each other, for instance they differ in character where the Discrimination Act is a binding legislation whereas the Work Environment Act is a framework legislation. This, in combination with nonspecific requirements of what actions to take, especially regarding how various investigations are to be carried out, creates a difficulty for employer. The difficulty lies not only in understanding what the individual statutes imply, but also which statute the employer should turn and act in accordance to. Thus it is difficult to draw a tangible conclusion, but in summary the employer has a broad responsibility, regardless of which of the laws that become relevant. However, the problem remains regarding what the employer's practical responsibilities are, especially in light of the limited number of legal cases in this area.