Page 50 - MONACO LAW REVIEW 2025-2

LABOUR
LAW
UPDATE
Harassment in the
Workplace
Law No. 1.457 of 12 December 2017 on harassment and violence in
the workplace was adopted eight years ago. The moment has come
for a fi rst assessment. Nearly 150 decisions have been published
on Légimonaco, most of them marked as having “signifi cant
jurisprudential interest”: clear signs of how frequently the statute
is applied and of an intention to give it visibility and effectiveness.
Substantively, case law refl ects a judicial search for balance between
effective protection of victims and the need to avoid unfounded
accusations.
I. Is There Harassment? The Judicial Search for
a Proper Equilibrium
1. Psychological Harassment in the Workplace
What psychological harassment is: humiliating and
repeated remarks by the employer, abusive use of
disciplinary authority, failure to respond to the employee’s
justifi ed alerts, unlawful video-surveillance, and similar
conduct. Under Article 2, paragraph 2 of Law No. 1.457,
psychological harassment is defi ned as “knowingly subjecting
a person, by any means whatsoever and within an employment
relationship, to repeated acts or omissions whose object or effect is a
deterioration of their working conditions impairing their dignity or
resulting in an alteration of their physical or mental health.” The
criteria are cumulative: repeated acts or omissions, harm to
the employee’s dignity or health, and a causal link between
the two4. The courts have characterised psychological
harassment in cases involving humiliating and repeated
comments or behaviour by the employer (constant pressure,
recurring demeaning jokes, racist insults)5, abusive use
of disciplinary authority (arbitrary demotions, successive
unjustifi ed warnings, attempts at unlawful dismissal)6
,
persistent failure to respond to multiple alerts regarding a
general and objective deterioration of working conditions7
,
or the use of an illegally installed video-surveillance system
operated continuously to monitor employees8
.
What does not constitute psychological harassment: absence
of precise and objective facts, isolated incidents, mere
disagreements in the workplace, or the ordinary exercise of the
4| Labour Court, 28 January 2022, Mr M. C. v. E.M.T.; Court of Appeal, 28 January 2020, SAM F. v.
Ms M. M.; Court of Appeal, 9 July 2019, Cases Nos. 6054 and 6055. Court of Appeal, 9 July 2019, Cases
Nos. 6054 and 6055.
5| Court of Appeal, 9 November 2021, SAM Top Nett v. Mr L.; Court of Appeal, 30 May 2023, Mr A.
v. SAM B.
6| Court of Appeal, 28 September 2023, Case No. 06974; Labour Court, 2 December 2022, Mr A. v. B.
B. Company.
7| Labour Court, 12 December 2023, Ms N. A. v. SAM B.
8| Labour Court, 18 March 2024, Case No. 30394; Labour Court, 8 October 2020, Mr D. M. v. SARL
BG & CO.
48
employer’s managerial authority... Although Article 6 of Law
No. 1.457 allows the judge to infer the existence of harassment
from “precise, serious and consistent facts”, this shift in the burden of
proof does not relieve the employee of the obligation to produce
verifi able, dated and specifi c elements capable of giving rise to
a presumption of harassment9. Isolated incidents are insuffi cient:
harassment requires repetition10. Likewise, a simple disagreement
between colleagues, a difference of opinion with the employer on
a request made by the employee, or relational diffi culties with a
line manager fall within the ordinary contingencies of working
life and cannot be characterised as harassment11. Similarly,
giving instructions to an employee, requesting justifi cation for
an absence, making observations or criticisms without pressure
or humiliation, or imposing a particular managerial approach
on professional matters all fall within the normal exercise of
the employer’s managerial prerogatives and do not constitute
harassment12
.
2. Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
What constitutes sexual harassment: inappropriate or
sexually suggestive gestures, aggressive behaviour towards
women, or recurring sexist remarks. Under Article 2,
paragraph 3 of Law No. 1.457, sexual harassment consists of
“knowingly and repeatedly imposing on a person, by any means
whatsoever and within an employment relationship, words or
behaviour of a sexual or sexist nature that either undermine that
person’s dignity by reason of their degrading or humiliating
character, or create an intimidating, hostile or offensive situation
for that person.” Inappropriate or aggressive behaviour
towards women, gestures, or sexist remarks denigrating the
employee, her appearance or her condition as a woman —
corroborated by precise and detailed witness statements —
clearly constitute sexual harassment13. The conduct, however,
need not be sexual in nature: repeated sexist remarks imposed
on the employee are suffi cient14. Nor does the statute require
that the sexist comments be addressed directly to the
employee, provided they are made in her presence15
.
What does not constitute sexual harassment:
undemonstrated allegations or situations of reciprocal
familiarity between the employer and the employee.
The evidentiary requirements mirror those applicable to
psychological harassment: the employee must provide
suffi ciently concrete elements demonstrating words or
behaviour of a sexual or sexist nature16, demonstrating
repetition17. An employee who has accused her supervisor of
sexual harassment, and who has subsequently been acquitted
of malicious false accusation, does not thereby establish that
9| Court of Appeal, 7 May 2024, Case No. 05354; Labour Court, 10 January 2024, Ms C. A. v. SAM B.
and SAM C.; Labour Court, 20 December 2023, Case No. 30311; Labour Court, 25 April 2019, Ms C. D.
v. SARL A.; Labour Court, 14 July 2022, Ms A., née B., v. Société C. & D.; Labour Court, 24 September
2020, Ms O. K. v. SARL A. and J. S.; Court of Appeal, 9 July 2019, SARL, Cases Nos. 6054 and 6055.
10| Labour Court, 31 May 2023, Ms A. v. SARL B.; Labour Court, 12 June 2023, Ms A. v. Mr B.
11| Labour Court, 16 December 2022, Ms A., née B., v. SAM C.; Labour Court, 24 February 2022, Mr
J-P. S. v. SAM Andbank Monaco; Labour Court, 26 September 2019, Ms O. B. v. Société A.
12|Labour Court, 29 September 2023, Case No. 30155; Labour Court, 14 July 2023, Case No. 30112;
Labour Court, 12 June 2023, Ms A. v. SAM B.; Court of Revision, 12 October 2020, Mr S. D. v. SAM A.;
Court of Appeal, 30 June 2020, Ms C. D. v. SARL A.
13| Labour Court, 12 December 2023, Ms N. A. v. SAM B. V., concerning persistent sexual advances
(see also Labour Court, 20 January 2011, M.-V. B. A. v. SCS L. O. & Cie, prior to the adoption of Law
No. 1.457).
14| Labour Court, 27 September 2024, Ms V. A. v. SAM N & Cie and Société P.
15| Ibid.
16| Court of Appeal, 9 July 2019, Cases Nos. 6054 and 6055.
17| Labour Court, 26 September 2019, Ms O. B. v. Société A.