{"id":22018,"date":"2026-09-10T09:43:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T08:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/belzuz.com\/?post_type=publicacion&p=22018"},"modified":"2026-09-10T10:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T09:24:07","slug":"corporate-liability-harassment-complaints","status":"publish","type":"publicacion","link":"https:\/\/belzuz.com\/en\/publicacion\/corporate-liability-harassment-complaints\/","title":{"rendered":"Corporate liability for the inadequate handling of harassment complaints"},"content":{"rendered":"

We at Belzuz Abogados, S.L.P.<\/a>, as specialist employment lawyers, analyse the judgment of the Galician High Court of Justice No. 3073\/2026 of 2 July 2026 (Appeal No. 1524\/2026)<\/a>. This judgement examines the case of a female employee who claimed compensation for damages due to the inadequate handling of her harassment complaint. Specifically, the facts unfolded as follows:<\/p>\n

Throughout 2023, the employee had been on a series of periods of temporary incapacity, and subsequently, on 4 November 2024, she lodged a complaint of harassment via the company\u2019s ethics channel. It was not until 18 December 2024 that the company set up an Investigative Committee to investigate and handle the complaint. Furthermore, the process continued to be delayed for various reasons, so that it was not until April 2025 that the company drew up its final report setting out its conclusions regarding the complaint.<\/p>\n

The judge at first instance upheld the claim brought by the employee, in which she sought the termination of her contract with compensation on the grounds of serious breaches by the company, and also ordered the company to pay the claimant the sum of 3,750 euros as compensation for damages arising from non-pecuniary harm.<\/p>\n

The company, disagreeing with the aforementioned compensation for damages, lodged an appeal on the following grounds:<\/p>\n

(1) It argued that there had been no culpable or negligent act or omission in the handling of the complaint, stating that it had acted in accordance with the provisions of its ethics protocol;<\/p>\n

(2) That the temporary incapacity had severed the causal link, as the employee had been absent from the company whilst the case was being processed, and there was no medical or psychological report to substantiate the alleged \u2018personal distress caused by the wait\u2019;<\/p>\n

(3) It considered the flat-rate quantification of the sum of 3,500 euros for non-pecuniary damages to be arbitrary, specifying that the reference to the LISOS was not appropriate for the purpose of quantifying such compensation.<\/p>\n

Now, Belzuz Abogados, S.L.P.<\/a> and the firm\u2019s employment law department<\/a> set out the main grounds given by the High Court of Justice of Galicia in relation to the aforementioned dispute, which are as follows:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Failure to meet the deadline.<\/strong> The Ethics Channel stipulated that the complainant must be informed of the status of her complaint within thirty calendar days<\/strong> of its submission. However, the company failed to meet this deadline, as the complaint was lodged on 4 November 2024 and the Investigation Committee did not contact her until 18 December 2024 \u2013 that is, more than 39 days later. In this regard, the fact that the company held internal meetings does not negate this breach, as these meetings \u201cdid not result in any specific action on the part of the company\u201d.<\/li>\n
  2. Unjustified extension of the investigation period<\/strong>. Article 5.5 of the Protocol stipulated that the maximum period for closing the investigation file was three months from receipt of the complaint, except in cases of particular complexity requiring an extension of that period. Thus, in this particular case, the Commission extended this period by a further three months \u201cdue to the particular complexity of the matter, the facts set out and the number of witnesses who had to be heard<\/em>\u201d. However, the High Court of Justice of Galicia (TSJ) considered that this extension to a maximum of six months was not justified, in view of the facts alleged, their nature (which required prompt action), as well as the periods of inactivity in the case and the proceedings carried out.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In accordance with the foregoing, the High Court of Justice of Galicia concluded as follows:<\/p>\n

    \u201cThe length of time taken to process the case, regardless of whether it constitutes a breach of its own Protocol, demonstrates a lack of diligence and passivity on the part of the company, which is difficult to reconcile with the obligations relating to the effective protection of the worker\u2019s right to health<\/strong> \u2013 in this case, psychological \u2013 as set out in <\/em>Article 19.1 of the Workers\u2019 Statute (ET) (EDL 2015\/182832)<\/em><\/a>, Articles 14 and 15 of the Law on Occupational Risk Prevention (LPRL) and, in particular, with regard to workplace harassment, <\/em>Article 48 of Organic Law 3\/2007 of 22 March (EDL 2007\/12678)<\/em><\/a>\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

    He added that \u201cthe company could and should have provided a swifter and more effective response to the employee, regardless of the outcome of the investigation and whether or not the alleged facts had occurred, since the company\u2019s obligations extend not only to effective protection but also to the prevention of associated imminent risks<\/strong>\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    On the basis of this reasoning, the judge concluded that the aforementioned breaches by the company caused non-pecuniary damage for which the employee was entitled to compensation; for this reason, he ordered the company to pay the aforementioned compensation for non-pecuniary damage.<\/p>\n

    In the opinion of the lawyers specialising in employment law<\/a> at Belzuz Abogados, S.L.P.<\/a>, the judgement highlights the importance of proper and diligent handling of internal complaints of harassment<\/strong>, as well as the correct application of the procedures established by the company for this purpose. In the case in question, the High Court of Justice of Galicia found breaches in the handling of the complaint lodged by the employee and awarded her compensation of 3,750 euros<\/strong>. The ruling serves as a reminder of the importance for companies to act diligently and to keep proper records of the actions taken in response to such complaints.<\/p>\n

    We believe it is worth recalling the related post from June 2022<\/a> in which the employment law department<\/a> of Belzuz Abogados, S.L.P.<\/a> had already explained the importance of having harassment protocols in place.<\/p>\n

    On behalf of Belzuz Abogados, S.L.P.<\/a>, as labour law experts specialising in harassment investigation proceedings brought by employees, we consider that the TSJ\u2019s reasoning is well-founded and based on the applicable legal doctrine and case law; we will continue to monitor rulings relating to this type of case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":18991,"template":"","categories":[],"area-de-practica":[224],"publicaciones":[530],"idioma-publicacion":[71],"areas-practica-publicacciones":[],"class_list":["post-22018","publicacion","type-publicacion","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","area-de-practica-labor-law","publicaciones-ana-escandell-lucas","idioma-publicacion-ingles"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/belzuz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publicacion\/22018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/belzuz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publicacion"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/belzuz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/publicacion"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belzuz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/belzuz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belzuz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22018"},{"taxonomy":"area-de-practica","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belzuz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/area-de-practica?post=22018"},{"taxonomy":"publicaciones","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belzuz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publicaciones?post=22018"},{"taxonomy":"idioma-publicacion","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belzuz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/idioma-publicacion?post=22018"},{"taxonomy":"areas-practica-publicacciones","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belzuz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/areas-practica-publicacciones?post=22018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}