Ombudsman received 212 complaints about mobbing at work: what fines are provided

The Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, reported that over the past one and a half years, the Ombudsman's Office has received 212 complaints regarding mobbing in the workplace. According to him, 83 people reported bullying at work in just the first six months of this year.

According to the Ombudsman, the complaints concern humiliation, psychological pressure, isolation of employees within the team, and coercion to resign. He emphasized that such actions are not features of management style but violations of human rights, for which responsibility is provided.

Lubinets reminded that Ukrainian legislation explicitly prohibits mobbing in the labor sphere. According to Article 2² of the Labor Code of Ukraine, mobbing is considered systematic prolonged actions or inactions of the employer or employees aimed at humiliating a person's honor and dignity, their business reputation, or creating a hostile and humiliating atmosphere in the workplace.

Such actions may manifest as psychological or economic pressure, including insults, threats, isolation of the employee from the team, obstruction of work performance, unjustified deprivation of bonuses, different pay for employees of the same qualification, or unreasonable distribution of workload.

At the same time, the Ombudsman noted that a one-time conflict between colleagues or justified criticism of work results by itself is not mobbing. Its defining features are systematicity, targeted actions, and their negative impact on the employee.

Lubinets stressed that the employer is obliged not only to refrain from actions that have signs of mobbing but also to prevent their occurrence. This involves creating a safe psychological environment, properly responding to employee complaints, and preventing discrimination within the team.

Employees who have become victims of mobbing are advised to document violations, including saving correspondence, messages, audio or video recordings, witness testimonies, to contact the employer, file complaints with the State Labor Service of Ukraine or the Ombudsman's Office, and also defend their rights in court.

According to Article 173⁵ of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses, fines or community service are provided for committing mobbing. For citizens, the fine ranges from 50 to 100 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens or community service from 20 to 30 hours. For individual entrepreneurs employing hired labor and officials, a fine from 100 to 200 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens or community service from 30 to 40 hours is provided.

In case of repeated mobbing or if such actions were committed by a group of persons, the responsibility is increased.

"No person should work in an atmosphere of fear, humiliation, or psychological pressure. Respect for the dignity of the employee is an essential component of decent working conditions," emphasized Dmytro Lubinets.

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