Sexual Harassment Law in France
| Date | 01 September 2005 |
| DOI | 10.1177/135822910500700407 |
| Author | Thierry Gillot,Joëlle Hannelais |
| Published date | 01 September 2005 |
International Journal
of
Discrimination and
the
Lmr.
2005,
Vol.
7.
pp.
187 198
1358-2291/2005
$10
2005
A 8 Academic Publishers. Printed
in
Great Britain
SEXUAL
HARASSMENT
LAW
IN
FRANCE
JOELLE HANNELAJS1 AND THIERRY GILLOT2
Latournerie, Wolfrom & Associes,
Paris,
France
ABSTRACT
The
first Jaws concerning sexual harassment were passed by the French Parliament
in 1992 following the recommendations
of
the Commission
of
27
November
1991
on
the protection
of
the dignity
of
men
and
women in the workplace. The law also
obliges employers to take all necessary measures to prevent acts
of
harassment.
Sexual harassment
is
also a crime in France.
This article describes the
operation
and
application
of
those laws, noting the
narrow
definition
of
sexual harassment when compared to
European
Community
law. Relatively
few
sexual harassment complaints have been filed in France,
but
this may equally be the result
of
confidential conciliation
of
complaints as
of
the
restrictive application
of
the law.
1 INTRODUCTION
France
was
one
of
the
first
European
countries
to
pass
legislation
concerning
sexual
harassment,
following
the
Recommendation
of
the
European
Commission
of
27
November
1991
on
the
protection
of
the
dignity
of
men
and
women
in
the
workplace.
3
In
fact, as
early
as 1992
and
without
waiting
for
the
European
Community
directives, legislators
passed
two
laws
dealing
with
sexual
harassment.
The
first
of
these laws
was
passed
during
the
reform
of
the
Criminal
Code
4
and
made
sexual
harassment
a
crime.
The
second
law
integrated
into
the
Labour
Code
specific
dispositions
relating
to
workplace
relationships.
5
The
notion
of
sexual
harassment
was
restrictive
at
this
time
in
that
it was
only
recognized
when
a
hierarchical
relationship
existed
between
the
victim
and
the
harasser
thus
excluding
from
its scope
acts
of
harassment
in
non-hierarchical
relationships.
Fallowing
this,
the
law
of
9
May
2001 6
and
especially
the
law
of
17
January
20027 were
aimed
at
enlarging
the
scope
of
protection,
on
the
one
hand,
to
those
areas
where
harassment
would
have
professional
consequences
(salary,
grade,
promotion,
etc.)
and,
on
the
other
hand,
as
concerns
harassers.
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