The Regulation of Workplace Sexual Harassment in Greece: Legislation and Case Law Analysis
| DOI | 10.1177/135822910500700406 |
| Published date | 01 September 2005 |
| Date | 01 September 2005 |
| Author | Konstantinos D. Magliveras |
International
Journal
of
Discrimination
and
the Lcm,
2005,
Vol.
7,
pp. 169-186
1358-2291/2005
$10
2005
A B Academic Publishers. Printed
in
Great Britain
THE
REGULATION
OF
WORKPLACE
SEXUAL
HARASSMENT
IN
GREECE:
LEGISLATION
AND
CASE LAW ANALYSIS
KONST
ANTINOS
D. MAGLIVERAS*
Department
of
Mediterranean Studies, University of' the Aegean, Greece
ABSTRACT
Although it
is
a well-known fact
that
sexual harassment
is
a common practice in
Greek workplaces carried
out
both
by employers
and
fellow employees, the
State has not
adopted
any relevant civil
and/or
criminal legislative measures speci-
fically to deal with it. However, there exists a general legal framework consisting
of
provisions in the Constitution, in the Civil Code, in the Criminal Code,
and
in
various collective employment contracts, as well as general principles
of
Labour
Law. Arguably, this framework does
not
afford
to
victims
of
sexual harassment
a satisfactory regime for seeking redress. The present article analyses this legal
framework and, on the basis
of
the applicable case law, shows how it has been
applied in practice and how, on occasion, the courts have expanded its scope to
overcome legislative shortcomings.
INTRODUCTION
Not
only
has
Greece
not
adopted
any
specific legislation prohibiting
sexual
harassment
in the workplace, even
though
such legislation
has
been
promulgated
in
other
European
countries,
1
but
this issue
has
never
ranked
high in the
agenda
of
the
government
and
of
the
trade
unions.2
In
this regard, it
is
interesting
to
note
that
in late
January
1994 a conference was organised
in
Athens
pursuant
to
the
Declaration
of
the Council
of
Ministers
of
the
European
Communities
of
December
1991
calling
on
Member
States to develop
and
implement
concrete
practices
to
prevent
and
fight sexual
harassment
in the workplace.3
The
Declaration
was
in
furtherance
of
the relevant
Recommenda-
tion
of
the
Commission
of
the
European
Communities
of
November
1991.4
The
aim
of
the
conference was
to
bring
together
all social
part-
ners (i.e.,
State
authorities, employers' representatives
and
trade
union
organisations) in
an
attempt
to
exchange opinions
on
how
best
to
address sexual
harassment
and
to
draft
a set
of
recommendations.
Reprinted
in revised
form
with
permission
from
Kluwer
Law
International:
first
published
in International
Journal
of'
Comparative
Lahour
Law
& Industrial Relations,
Vol.
20, Issue 2
(Spring
2004)
2004
Kluwer
Law
International.
170
The
conference resulted in failure:
no
State
authorities
were
present,
even
though
they
had
a
duty
to
attend
in
accordance
with
the
Council
Declaration,
the
Confederation
of
Greek
Industries
(the
most
powerful
employers'
union)
turned
down
an
invitation
to
attend
on
the
ground
that
it
had
no
information
on
the subject
of
sexual
harassment,
while the
participation
of
trade
unions
was
rather
negligible. 5 However,
during
the conference, the results
of
a
survey
carried
out
by
an
NGO
in
metropolitan
Athens
in 1988
were presented: these
showed
that
from
the 1500 males
and
females
who
were questioned, 60
percent
of
women
claimed
that
they
had
been
the
victim
of
sexual
harassment
in their workplace.6
The
vast
majority
of
female employees deliberately
did
not
file
complaints
after
instances
of
sexual
harassment
because the lack
of
specific
legal
protection
had
convinced
them
that
complaints
would
lead
nowhere.
Moreover,
they feared
that
they
might
lose their
jobs
or
make
their
working
conditions
even worse as a consequence.
7
These
considerations
do
not
allow us
to
share
the submission
put
forward
in a 1994
publication
of
the
European
Foundation
for
the
Improvement
of
Living
and
Working
Conditions
arguing
that
in Greece sexual
harassment
is as
prevalent
a topic as elsewhere.
8
As will be
shown
in the
present
article, direct references
to
sexual
harassment
are
scarce.
The
current
legal regime consists
of
broadly-worded
Constitutional
provisions dealing with equality
between
men
and
women
and
the
protection
of
human
personality,
provisions
in the Civil
Code,
which
could
be applied
by
analogy,
and
in the
Criminal
Code
and,
finally, general rules
of
Labour
Law.
REFERENCES
TO
SEXUAL
HARASSMENT
IN
COLLECTIVE
EMPLOYMENT
CONTRACTS
So far, the
only
specific references relating
to
the
protection
of
employees'
personality
and,
more
particularly,
to
sexual
harassment
in
the
workplace
are
to
be
found
in the
National
General
Collective
Employment
Contract
and
in the sectoral Collective
Employment
Contracts.
These
documents,
which
have
a legal force
equal
to
that
of
legislative
instruments,
9
are
negotiated
and
concluded
by
the
representatives
of
the respective employers'
and
workers'
unions.
Thus,
in Article
11
of
the 1993
National
General
Collective
Employment
Contract
the
contracting
parties recognised the princi-
ple
of
equality between the sexes in the workplace, as this
has
been
laid
down
in
the
Constitution,
in
domestic
and
European
legislation
as well as in
international
labour
treaties.
Furthermore,
they
under-
took
the
obligation
to
take
all necessary measures, which
guarantee
decent
treatment
and
behaviour
in the
workplace
in
matters
relating
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