Workplace Harassment, Gender-Based Mobbing, and Occupational Stalking: the Italian Perspective
The DIRPOLIS Institute of the Scuola Sant'Anna is organizing the online seminar “Workplace Harassment, Gender-Based Mobbing, and Occupational Stalking: the Italian Perspective” scheduled for Monday, April 14, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event is being held by Roberta De Paolis, a research fellow at the Scuola Sant'Anna.
Abstract
The lecture aims to offer a theoretical and legal framework for workplace harassment, gender-based mobbing, and occupational stalking, focusing on the contemporary workplace context. It will investigate the relational and structural dynamics that nurture conduct detrimental to the dignity and psychophysical integrity of working subjects, with particular incidence on female workers, who are often the object of symbolic and concrete violence connected to gender discrimination.
The discussion will then focus on the Italian legal system, namely, the legal tools provided to prevent and counter gender-based workplace discrimination and violence. We will examine the regulatory framework regarding the protection of the dignity of the worker, in particular in light of Legislative Decree 198/2006 (Code of Equal Opportunities), Legislative Decree 81/2008 (Safety at Work), and Art. 2087 of the Civil Code, which requires the employer to take all necessary measures to ensure the physical and psychological integrity of the employees. Along with that, from a criminal law perspective, the discussion will ultimately focus on the identification of relevant Italian offenses (such as sexual harassment under Art. 609-bis et seq. of the Criminal Code, stalking under Art. 612-bis of the Criminal Code, mistreatment within the family under Art. 572 of the Criminal Code), their jurisprudential application and critical issues related to fact-finding, causal link and procedural protection of victims.