Conduct Constituting Labor Harassment (Part II): Inequity and Lack of Protection

Workplace Harassment: Active Sabotage

Hindering seeks to cause the victim to fail and then punish him or her for that failure. It is calculated sabotage.

It includes actions such as depriving, concealing or rendering useless inputs, documents or instruments necessary for the work.

Imagine a boss withholding vital information until the last minute and then demanding delivery of the full report, or a colleague deleting shared files.

It also includes the destruction or loss of electronic information.

These behaviors seek to nullify the worker's operational capacity, making him or her appear incompetent or negligent in the eyes of others, when in fact he or she has been operationally handcuffed.

Labor Inequity: Functional Degradation

Inequity refers to the assignment of functions that seek to belittle the worker.

This can manifest itself in two extreme forms: selective overloading or the assignment of trivial tasks.

On the one hand, imposing disproportionate workloads that are impossible to fulfill during working hours; on the other, ordering a highly qualified professional to perform manual, cleaning or messenger tasks that do not correspond to his profile or contract, with the intention of humiliating him.

This functional degradation sends the message that their talent is worthless, directly attacking their professional self-esteem and status within the organization.

Labor Disprotection: Deliberate Risk

This modality is extremely serious because it puts physical integrity at stake.

It is constituted when orders are given or functions are assigned without complying with the minimum industrial protection and safety requirements, or without providing the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE).

This is not a logistical oversight, but a deliberate negligence towards a specific worker.

Sending an employee to a hazardous area without the proper equipment, or denying mandatory breaks in hazardous tasks, constitutes harassment due to lack of protection.

It is a way of saying "I don't care about your safety," which generates a level of distress and fear incompatible with dignity at work.

Summary

Job hindering is active sabotage that includes withholding information, inputs or deleting files to make the victim fail and then punishing him or her for it.

Work inequity degrades the worker through selective overloading that is impossible to fulfill or the assignment of trivial tasks far below his or her professional capacity.

Labor unprotection occurs when hazardous work is ordered to be performed without the necessary safety elements, demonstrating deliberate negligence towards the physical integrity of the employee.