Zero tolerance on workplace sexual harassment, says MEP

Sexual harassment in the workplace is intolerable, according to the head of the parliament's women’s rights committee.

In a public hearing on the issue, Slovakian EPP deputy Anna Záborská said, “sexual harassment in the workplace runs counter to human dignity”, and called for an information campaign to get the public and NGOs more involved.

“This is a zero-tolerance issue. The same way as domestic violence and traffic in humans are, sexual harassment is non-negotiable, too,” she said.

She made the statement after a panel of experts from various member states gave their advice on and definitions of harassment.

According to research presented by Eurofound (the European foundation for the improvement of living and working conditions), female employees aged between 15 and 29 are most likely to be bullied, harassed or receive unwanted sexual attention in the workplace.

The results of a 2005 European working conditions survey found that Finland is the country with the highest percentage of bullying and harassment in the workplace, with 15 per cent of male and over 20 per cent of female respondents claiming to have experienced it. Bulgaria is the country with the lowest percentage of harassment.

The research presented also highlighted that different business sectors are more vulnerable to the risk of sexual harassment. The most at risk are the education and health sectors, with public administration and hotels and restaurants coming in second and third. These are also the sectors most likely to be dealing with the general public as patients, pupils or customers.

Záborská praised a 1997 commission directive that shifted the burden of proof from the victim to the defendant. Under EU law, the onus is now on the accused to prove that the harassment did not take place.

Sexual harassment has been implemented in various member states’ legal codes after a commission directive in 2002 placed a duty on employers to protect their workers from harassment.

The commission’s representative at the hearing struggled to provide MEPs with an answer to questions on national feedback on the implementation of EU directives, but did highlight the growth of independent equality bodies in several member states as an “essential element” to any strategy on sexual harassment.

The public hearing was held just in advance of the international day for the elimination of violence against women on 25 November.

Read Anna Záborská’s article on trafficking in human beings in the Parliament Magazine’s latest edition here.

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