Complaints of psychological harassment at work have been growing since the start of the crisis – despite the fact that victims “are more afraid” of whistleblowing for fear of losing their jobs.
“The crisis has been influencing the number of cases involving psychological harassment at work,” the director of Mondego’s Authority for Work Conditions (ACT) centre told a conference on the subject in Coimbra.
However, “the fear of filing a complaint is greater” in times of crisis because jobs are becoming an increasingly more valuable asset, Maria de Lurdes Padrão was reported as saying by Lusa news agency.
Lurdes Padrão also said that gathering proof is “one of the hardest” tasks when investigating complaints, especially in terms of proving the alleged harasser’s intentions.
Lack of solidarity between workers is another stumbling block towards obtaining the truth, she added.
