Preventing and combating harassment in the workplace social partnership
Authors: Sereda Olena , Krasiuk Tetiana 
Published: July 2024

Problem setting. On November 16, 2022, the Law of Ukraine «On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Prevention and Counteraction of Mobbing (bullying)» was adopted. According to this Law, some provisions of the Labor Code of Ukraine and the Law of Ukraine «On Collective Agreements and Agreements» underwent significant changes. Individual sectoral agreements and collective agreements concluded after 2022 do not contain specific measures to prevent mobbing in the sections devoted to labor protection or the prevention of discrimination in the field of work. Many clauses of concluded collective agreements duplicate individual articles of the Labor Code of Ukraine, but none of them specify local organizational and legal means to prevent mobbing.In practice, certain issues remain unresolved regarding the specification of measures that can be implemented to counter mobbing at the level of social dialogue. Analysis of recent researches and publications Various aspects of mobbing as a complex, multifaceted phenomenon were studied by both foreign and domestic specialists in various scientific fields: psychology, medicine, management, sociology, law, etc. Among them: O. Adamchuk, L. Amelicheva, L. Harashchenko, V. Honcharuk, T. Kolesnik, T. Kolyada, N. Kokhan, O. Kostyuchenko, T. Parpan, K. Svitlichna, S. Simakova, O. Sereda , N. Shvets, O. Shut, A. Yushko, and others. Despite the large number of scientific studies on the given topic, there are still a number of unsolved problematic issues that require the attention of specialists and further scientific developments. Purpose of the research is to develop recommendations and scientifically based proposals for amendments to the legislation on social dialogue in order to protect employees from destructive manifestations of psychological pressure in the workplace. Article’s main body. The article is devoted to mobbing a fairly new socially dangerous phenomenon in the historical dimension, which manifests itself in labour relations and which has recently been legally formalised in Ukrainian legislation. Given the gradual realisation by society of the negative consequences of its action and the damage it causes to an individual employee, enterprise, institution or organisation, the problem of preventing and counteracting mobbing in the workforce and finding ways to effectively address it on the basis of current legislation and local regulations is becoming increasingly relevant. In this regard, the author analyses the amendments made to the Labour Code of Ukraine. It is noted that despite the legal mechanisms introduced by the legislator to protect against mobbing in the workplace, in practice, certain issues remain unresolved regarding the specification of measures that can be taken within the framework of social dialogue as an effective tool to overcome this negative phenomenon. It is emphasised that the development and implementation of such a tool at the local level will be one of the important steps aimed at creating decent working conditions and a healthy atmosphere in the workforce. The author argues that an effective method of avoiding mobbing may be the method of conducting an information and prevention conversation between the relevant HR employee and a potential employee, who, prior to commencement of employment under an employment contract, is informed, among other conditions, about the socially dangerous nature of such a phenomenon, its signs, and possible legal consequences in case of harassment of work colleagues. The author suggests amending Article 13 of the Law of Ukraine «On Labour Protection» and including the following obligations of the employer: to organise work on ensuring safety and protection of physical and mental health of employees in the workplace, as well as on avoiding the risks of interpersonal emotional stress and creating a productive moral and psychological atmosphere in the team; and to facilitate information and preventive and educational activities on preventing and combating mobbing (harassment) with the involvement of professional specialists. The author notes that some sectoral agreements and collective bargaining agreements concluded at enterprises after 2022 do not contain specific measures to prevent mobbing in the sections on labour protection or non-discrimination in the field of labour.Many provisions of such collective agreements merely duplicate certain articles of the Labour Code of Ukraine. Various approaches of scholars to the interpretation of the concept of «mobbing» are analysed, on the basis of which the most general definition is formed. It is noted that in management in general and in the prevention of mobbing, in particular, the role of the manager is undoubtedly important, which, among other things, is to create a corporate culture in the organisation based on its traditions and values. Of great importance for maintaining a productive moral and psychological atmosphere is the manager’s attitude towards employees, which excludes arrogance or disrespect. It is emphasised that a manager should be a psychologist to a certain extent and organise work in such a way as to identify potential conflicts based on mobilisation in advance, find out its causes and participants, and come up with a positive solution, while providing assistance to employees who are in a state of stress and nervous crisis. Based on the analysed collective agreements, it is concluded that they mostly contain provisions according to which employers are obliged to take measures to prevent, counteract and stop mobbing (harassment), but what kind of measures and in what form they should be taken are not specified. Therefore, this provision is perceived as declarative. It is emphasised that information, training and organisational measures require some specificity in the annexes to the collective agreement and in agreements on socio-economic issues. Conclusions and prospects for the development. It is proposed to amend the legislation on social dialogue by including specific measures to counteract mobbing in labour relations, which include the following: training sessions on strategies for overcoming interpersonal conflicts with signs of mobbing for managers and heads of structural units as part of their professional development; thematic seminars with the aim of improving the legal culture of employees and, in particular, preventing mobbing at an enterprise; systematic analysis of the moral and psychological atmosphere of employees by trade union representatives.