Prevention and counteraction of mobbing in labor relations: regulatory and legal support in Ukraine

Abstract

The article examines the legislative regulation of the concept and forms of mobbing, responsibility for committing such acts. Attention is drawn to the fact that the problem of mobbing is relevant not only for our country, where it is increasingly possible to observe cases of this phenomenon at work (harassment of an employee by both colleagues, subordinates, and management), but also for European countries, where they know what is mobbing and have long since legally regulated the issue of preventing and countering this phenomenon. It is noted that Ukraine has also joined European countries in this matter by adopting the Law "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Prevention and Counteraction to Mobbing (bullying)” dated 11.16.2022 No. 2759-IX, which brought the norms of Ukrainian legislation in accordance with European and provided protection against discrimination and psychological pressure in the workforce. It is noted that the legislative regulation of the concept and forms of mobbing, responsibility for committing such acts will contribute to the protection and protection of the rights of employees, as well as overcoming mobbing as a negative phenomenon in labor relations. At the same time, it was concluded that despite the fact that the concept of "mobbing” is legally defined, the responsibility for it, many issues still remain today, which need to be resolved. Since the amendments to the legislation gave birth to many aspects that were not familiar either to the practice or to the science of domestic labor law. Yes, now the psychological and economic pressure of employees has become an additional reason for terminating the employment contract; the regulation of mobbing established new areas of employer responsibility, and also gave rise to many unanswered questions - how to distinguish bullying from a joke; whether to consider the use of obscene language as mobbing; is it considered mobbing when an employee compares his work with the work of another employee and complains about being overworked compared to a colleague; where the line will be drawn between the employer's legal requirement for the employee to perform the job well and mobbing the employee and many others. There is also an objective need to develop a legal mechanism to protect employees from mobbing, which would provide legal certainty regarding this phenomenon in labor relations.