We invite you to read the column written by our partner, Jorge Arredondo, on the paradigm shift for companies as a result of the Karin Law.
On August 1, the so-called “Karin Law”, a new regulation on harassment and violence in the workplace, will come into force, obliging employers to take specific measures to prevent, eradicate and punish this type of behavior.
This new regulation introduces a series of changes to the Labor Code. In the first place, it eliminates repetition as an essential requirement to understand that labor harassment exists. On the other hand, it creates the labor illicit of violence in the workplace, regulating, as another change, a single investigation procedure for harassment and violence in the world of work. In this way, it broadens the scope of harassment at work, establishing that harassment at work is considered to be an act of harassment even if it occurs only once and not only repeatedly, as long as it harms the employment situation or the employment opportunities of the complainant.
Secondly, it establishes the obligation for employers to include in the internal regulations of their organizations a protocol for the prevention of sexual harassment, labor harassment or violence at work and the investigation procedure to be followed by workers in the event of complaints.
The third change of the regulation is that it broadens the way in which a complaint can be made, establishing that both for labor, sexual harassment and violence at work, it can be made both verbally and in writing, as opposed to the previous regulation, which required that the complaint for sexual harassment be made known to the employer in writing. In the event of a complaint, the employer is obliged to immediately adopt protective measures with respect to those involved in acts related to labor, sexual harassment or violence at work.
All these changes introduced by the law require companies to evaluate their internal regulations and make the necessary adjustments in order to comply with this new regulation. In many cases, it will be essential to modify internal regulations and create prevention and action policies to deal with conduct that falls within the scope of the law.
Companies must begin to promote programs in terms of prevention and risk analysis in terms of harassment and violence in the workplace. They should also take into account the changes implied by this new law in terms of internal investigations as well as in the management and governance of the information gathered in these processes. This, in the understanding that this is a problem in which those involved will be, most of the time, with their current labor relations.
On the other hand, the new regulation implies that companies must prepare themselves from the leadership point of view. It is the leaders who will have to promote a cultural change within their organizations, so they must be absolutely clear about the scope of this law and the effect it will have on work environments, individual and collective labor relations, its possible impact on productivity or labor projection, etc.
The Karin Law promotes a paradigm shift. Now employers will not only have to react to complaints of harassment or workplace violence, but they will have to be active players in preventing and suppressing risk environments. At a time when there are only days left for this law to come into force, it is essential for companies to prepare themselves today.
Column by Jorge Arredondo | Partner
