Since September 21, 2022, Law No. 14,457 has been in force, which, among other provisions, enforces that all companies promote harassment prevention training, as well as implement complaint channels.
Channels for anonymous complaints, emails, phones and Whatsapp linked directly to the Human Resources department already exist in the policy of many companies; however, it is a channel for the employee to communicate directly with the company representative. Hence, many employees fail to report due to the fact that they do not trust the corrective measures.
With the enactment of this law, the responsibility of monitoring and reporting harassment is assigned to the representative of the employees who are members of CIPA [Internal Commission of Accident Prevention].
In short, the obligations brought by the law are the inclusion of rules of conduct regarding sexual harassment and other forms of violence in the company’s rules and regulations; procedures for receiving and following up on complaints, for ascertaining the facts and, when appropriate, applying sanctions to those directly and indirectly responsible for acts of sexual harassment and violence; inclusion of topics related to the preventing and combating sexual harassment and other forms of violence in the activities and practices of the Internal Commission for Accident Prevention (CIPA) and training, guidance and awareness of all employees on issues related to violence, harassment, equality and diversity in the workplace, at least every 12 months.
These measures have already been in force since March 20, 2023 and apply to all companies, of any segment or size, so all the rules laid down are valid and the necessary adjustments must be made immediately.
In addition, Regulatory Standard No. 5, which deals with the CIPA (Internal Commission for Accident Prevention) was amended and harassment was included among the responsibilities of CIPA.
As can be seen, due to this attribution conferred on the CIPA (Internal Commission for Accident Prevention), later this month, its nomenclature will be changed, including the express provision that members should receive specific training with the objective of combating harassment.
Thus, commissions that are elected as of March 20, 2023, should receive specific harassment prevention raining.
What if the company doesn’t have a CIPA [The Internal Commission for Accident Prevention] formed to fight harassment?
Such company must establish a Code of Ethics and provide training to fight harassment and other forms of discrimination, considering that this is a subject that will be monitored, it will be subject of a penalty fine and the request for compensation due to the non-observance of the duty to fight harassment will certainly be formalized judicially.
Does your company have a Code of Ethics? Are you prepared to provide CIPA members with proper harassment prevention training?
For further information, contact Juliana Cerullo, Leading Attorney in Labor Law at Ronaldo Martins & Advogados: juliana.cerullo@ronaldomartins.adv.br, tel. (11) 99967-3638.
