Conduct that does NOT Constitute Labor Harassment: Organizational Requirements

The Disciplinary Power and the Power of Management

It is vital for the health of the company to draw the line between harassment and management. Legitimate exercise of disciplinary power does not constitute workplace harassment.

A manager has the right and the duty to call attention to, evaluate performance and correct mistakes, as long as he or she does so with respect and objectivity.

Technical demand memos, low performance evaluations (if they are based on real facts) and requests for efficiency improvements are not personal attacks.

Authority does not disappear because of the existence of the harassment law; it is the abuse of that authority that is regulated, not its legitimate use to maintain business standards.

Organizational Demands and Stress Situations

Job stress arising from production peaks, accounting shutdowns or market urgencies is not harassment per se.

Requesting extra work in situations necessary for the continuity of the service (respecting overtime legislation), or demanding strict compliance with regulations and contractual clauses, are valid administrative acts.

Pressure for results, typical of the corporate world, becomes harassment only when it is focused on a person to destroy him or her or when fundamental rights are violated.

If the entire team must stay late for an audit, it is a labor requirement; if only one person is required to stay late while the others leave, it could be harassment.

Unpopular Administrative Decisions

Terminating a contract for just cause (with due process), restructuring an area that involves changes in duties, or requesting compliance with dress code and schedules are not acts of violence.

Employees often confuse decisions they do not like with harassment. The law protects against undignified treatment, not professional frustration arising from legitimate management decisions.

Circulars, internal policies and service orders, even if strict, if general and objective, fall outside the spectrum of workplace harassment.

Summary

Legitimate exercise of disciplinary authority, such as calling attention to or evaluating performance, is not harassment, as long as it is done respectfully and objectively.

Stress arising from production peaks or contractual compliance demands is not harassment per se, unless it is destructively focused on a single individual.

Unpopular administrative decisions such as layoffs with just cause, restructuring or general scheduling requirements do not constitute violence, because the law protects dignity, not frustration.