Mobbing and work ethic

The term ‘’mobbing’’ does not yet have a legal definition, but, according to doctrine and jurisprudence, it refers to a behavior with persecutory and harassing content, meant to determine the worker to resign or to penalize, humiliate or isolate him in the enterprise team.

In 2020, the Romanian Parliament regulates through Law 167 / 07.08.2020 published in the Official Monitor no. 713 of August 7, 2020, moral harassment (without calling it mobbing):

“5.1) It constitutes moral harassment at work and is sanctioned disciplinary, contraventional or criminal, as the case may be, any behavior exercised towards an employee by another employee who is his hierarchical superior, by a subordinate and / or by a hierarchically comparable employee in relation to employment relationships, which has as purpose or effect a deterioration of working conditions by infringing the rights or dignity of the employee, by affecting his physical or mental health or by compromising his professional future, behavior manifested in any of the following forms: a) hostile or unwanted conduct; b) verbal comments; c) actions or gestures. (5.2) Any behavior that, by its systematic nature, may harm the dignity, the physical or mental integrity of an employee or group of employees, endangering their work or degrading the working climate, constitutes moral harassment in the workplace. For the purposes of this law, stress and physical exhaustion are subject to moral harassment at work."

The forms of mobbing are: physical or psychological isolation, work overload, task underload - intentional underestimation of the full potential of an employee and ridicule, stigmatization of an employee or a group of employees.

The effects of mobbing can vary at the individual level between: very serious - (depression, suicide) and less serious - depending on the magnitude of the phenomenon, but with serious repercussions at the organizational level: absenteeism, demotivation and increased fluctuation.