R-600-001 Annex II Anti-Harassment Protocol

• Governed by GP-600 Equality Planning

Purpose, Object, and Principles

Declaration of commitment

Ley Orgánica 3/2007, of 22 March, on the effective equality of women and men, establishes the prohibition of direct and indirect discrimination, sexual harassment, and harassment on the grounds of sex in the workplace, as well as the implementation of positive actions for their eradication.

This protocol promotes the adoption of preventive and palliative measures against such conduct, with the sole limitation of behaviour falling within the scope of criminal or labour sanctions — without prejudice to providing support, information, and practical assistance to the victim. It develops legal provisions regarding fundamental rights of the person, which can be reconciled with other legal provisions primarily pertaining to labour, occupational health and safety, and criminal law.

To this end, the Good Practice Guides (NTP) of the INSHT on workplace harassment and violence have been considered, as instruments for internalising specific regulations (the applicable collective agreement for engineering firms and technical offices, occupational risk assessment addressing risk P030 on harassment and violence, and the company's code of ethics).

Within the framework of the Equality Plan, the Equality Commission has agreed on the need to establish this Anti-Harassment Protocol, and the management has declared its full support and identification with it as internal regulations complementing its corporate governance code.

Object of the protocol

The purpose of this protocol is to protect the rights of the person against conduct constituting harassment: (a) moral or psychological, (b) sexual, or (c) motivated by sexual condition.

Harassment is understood as improper or undue conduct that constitutes undue treatment under the Equality Plan and as defined in this Protocol and the applicable mandatory public law framework.

This protocol applies to conduct occurring in connection with:

1. Employment relationships (dependent employment contracts)
2. Co-existence within the organisation's workspace or performance of other services for the company
3. Interpersonal relationships originating from any of the above (even outside the work environment or working hours)

The Protocol applies to all workers, recognising that the boundaries of the work environment are determined not by the physical workplace, working hours, or the form of legal relationship with the company, but are essentially relational in nature.

It therefore applies to all company workers as well as any person who, although under the authority of a third party, carries out activities or provides services within the company, including interns and trainees, provided they carry out their activity within its organisational scope.

If external personnel are involved, the relevant third-party companies shall be notified so they may take appropriate measures.

Guiding and operational principles

The protocol's principles are to safeguard the person against harassment from the perspective of:

• Fundamental rights and freedoms: dignity, equality and non-discrimination, physical and moral integrity, ideological and religious freedom, honour, personal privacy and self-image, and the right and duty to work without sex-based discrimination, as established in Articles 10, 14, 15, 16, 18, and 35.1 of the Spanish Constitution and related legislation
• Effective protection in occupational health and safety: serving as an instrument of prevention and protection through its dissemination and application
• Respect for the person: especially for those with motor, sensory, intellectual, or mental differences

The protocol aims to:

1. Prevent: by creating a culture of proper conduct that is embraced, not imposed
2. Mediate: in situations with potential for conflict
3. Safeguard: the rights affected

This is based on the premise that no one is entitled to harm anyone else; therefore, any conduct that contravenes this principle in any way must be considered inadequate or improper. The protocol establishes a predetermined, public, and uniform method and mode for processing and acting.

The protocol serves as the pre-established channel for: (a) proposing actions, improvements, or flagging potential risk situations; and (b) exercising the right and duty to report harassment situations, whether personally experienced or observed.

It operates proactively and with guarantees, both preventively and correctively. However, it does not replace — because it cannot substitute — the proper legal channels when the intensity of the conduct constitutes an apparent labour infraction or criminal offence. The initiation of any proceedings in these domains shall result in the termination of the procedure under this protocol. The Equality Commission shall in no case assume sanctioning powers of any kind.

Regulatory and Conceptual Framework

Definitions

For the purposes of this protocol, harassment is understood as undue conduct that, within the scope of application of this Protocol, falls within the following definitions:

Undue conduct means any conduct (active or omissive) directed at a person or group of persons, carried out by another person or group of persons, that constitutes discriminatory treatment through arbitrary means (alien to the principles dictated by reason, logic, or law) and implies detriment or harm to the recipient through degrading, humiliating, outrageous, denigrating, offensive, or insulting content.

Moral or psychological harassment: improper or undue conduct of psychological violence, directed repeatedly and over an extended period at one or more persons by another person or persons acting from a position of power (not necessarily hierarchical), with the purpose or effect of creating a hostile or humiliating environment that disrupts the victim's working or relational life.

Sexual harassment: improper or undue conduct of a physical nature, verbal or non-verbal communication, of a sexual character, or other sex-based behaviours that affect the dignity of women and men at work, including conduct by superiors and colleagues, if (any of the following):

1. The conduct is unwanted, imposed, or lacking reciprocity, or unreasonable and offensive to the person
2. The conduct creates an intimidating, hostile, humiliating, degrading, or offensive work environment for the person subjected to it
3. Rejection of or submission to the conduct is used as the basis for a decision affecting the person's access to vocational training, employment, continued employment, salary, or any other employment-related decisions (quid pro quo)

Harassment on the grounds of sex: improper conduct carried out on the basis of a person's sex or sexual orientation, with the purpose or effect of violating their dignity and creating an intimidating, degrading, or offensive environment.

Indicative conduct

The reference to indicative conduct for each type, and the List of Conduct that constitutes (or does not constitute) workplace harassment (Leymann, 1996), form part of the Appendices to this Protocol.

Workplace harassment indicators

• Measures designed to exclude or isolate a person from professional activity
• Persistent negative attacks on professional and personal performance
• Manipulation of professional and personal reputation through rumour, slander, denigration, or ridicule
• Abuse of power through persistent disparagement of work, setting objectives with unreasonable deadlines, or assigning impossible tasks
• Perverse monitoring and disproportionate performance control
• Unjustified denial of leave or training periods
• Gradual emptying of job functions
• Intentionally inducing a person to make errors at work
• Destroying a person's self-esteem and conditioning their self-concept negatively
• Isolating a person and reducing communication possibilities with others
• Systematically overloading a person with work
• Systematic assignment of the most unpleasant tasks
• Using administrative measures to block work, such as preventing computer access
• Altering the person's work environment
• Creating a tense workplace climate, causing colleagues to perceive the harassed person as a "scapegoat"
• Any other conduct aimed at degrading the harassed person's working conditions

Sexual harassment indicators

• Offensive sexual jokes and comments about physical appearance or sexual condition
• Obscene sexual comments
• Questions, descriptions, or comments about sexual fantasies, preferences, and abilities
• Denigrating or obscene forms of address
• Spreading rumours about a person's sexual life
• Communications (phone calls, emails, etc.) with offensive sexual content
• Behaviour seeking to humiliate or degrade a worker based on their sexual condition
• Invitations or pressure to arrange dates or sexual encounters
• Invitations, requests, or demands for sexual favours linked to career advancement, improvement of working conditions, or job retention
• Persistent invitations to social or leisure activities despite the person's clear indication that they are unwanted
• Use of sexually explicit or suggestive images, graphics, cartoons, photographs, or drawings
• Obscene gestures, whistling, impudent gestures or looks
• Letters, notes, or emails with offensive sexual content
• Deliberate and unsolicited physical contact (pinching, touching, unwanted massages, etc.) or excessive or unnecessary physical proximity
• Deliberately cornering or seeking to be alone with the person unnecessarily
• Intentionally or "accidentally" touching sexual organs

Harassment on the grounds of sex indicators

• Discriminatory conduct based on being a woman or man
• Jokes and comments about persons assuming tasks traditionally performed by persons of the other sex
• Denigrating or offensive forms of address directed at persons of a particular sex
• Use of sexist humour
• Ridiculing and disparaging the capabilities, skills, and intellectual potential of women and men
• Carrying out the above conduct towards lesbian, gay, transsexual, or bisexual persons
• Evaluating a person's work with contempt, unfairly, or in a biased manner based on their sex or sexual orientation
• Assigning tasks or work below the person's professional capacity or competence solely because of their sex
• Unfavourable treatment on grounds of pregnancy or maternity
• Explicit or implicit conduct aimed at making restrictive or limiting decisions regarding a person's access to or continuation in employment, vocational training, pay, or any other employment-related matter
• Assigning pregnant women work of lower responsibility than their capacity or category; meaningless tasks, impossible goals, or unreasonable deadlines; deliberately preventing access to adequate resources or arbitrarily denying leave entitlements

Applicable mandatory public law framework

EU legislation

• European Social Charter of 3 May 1996 — defines workplace harassment as "condemnable or explicitly hostile acts directed repeatedly against any employee in the workplace"
• Directives 43/2000/EC and 78/2000/EC — "discriminatory conduct" that violates a person's dignity and creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, and offensive environment
• Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council — defines "harassment" as unwanted behaviour related to a person's sex with the purpose or effect of violating their dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment; defines "sexual harassment" as any unwanted verbal, non-verbal, or physical behaviour of a sexual nature with the same purpose or effect

Labour legislation

• Ley Orgánica 3/2007 — Articles 7 (sexual harassment and harassment on the grounds of sex), 13 (burden of proof), 27 (equality in health policy), 45 (equality plans), 46 (content of equality plans), 48 (specific anti-harassment measures)
• Estatuto de los Trabajadores (Real Decreto Legislativo 2/2015) — Article 4.2.e (right to dignity and protection against harassment), Article 50.1.c (contract termination by worker's will), Article 54.2.c and g (disciplinary dismissal for verbal/physical offences and harassment)
• Ley 36/2011 on the Social Jurisdiction — Chapter XI on the protection of fundamental rights and public freedoms (Articles 177–184)
• Ley 31/1995 on Occupational Risk Prevention — Articles 15 (preventive action principles) and 16 (risk prevention plan)
• Real Decreto Legislativo 5/2000 on Labour Infractions and Sanctions — Article 8, sections 11, 13, and 13 bis

Criminal legislation

• Código Penal Español (Ley Orgánica 10/1995) — Article 172 and 172 ter (coercion and stalking), Article 173.1 (offences against moral integrity), Articles 178 et seq. (offences against sexual freedom and integrity), Article 184 (sexual harassment), Article 197 (discovery and disclosure of secrets), Articles 205 and 208 (slander and insult), Article 450 (failure to prevent crimes), Articles 456 and 457 (false accusation and simulation of crimes)

Procedure (Protocol of Action)

Object

This procedure constitutes the Protocol of Action for:

• Harassment, as provided in Article 48.1 of Ley Orgánica 3/2007 (to establish specific procedures for its prevention and to provide a channel for complaints or claims by those who have been subjected to it), in accordance with the Equality Plan and the company's risk assessment (P030 on harassment and violence)
• As a channel to address — for the purposes thereof — the exercise of the right and duty to report any harassment situation, whether personally experienced or observed

As a formal and guaranteeing procedure — given the scope of the rights potentially affected — it must seek global, comprehensive, and effective solutions to harassment situations addressed through it.

Its nature is not administrative, criminal, or labour-sanctioning in the strict sense. However, it may give rise to, or be conducted in parallel with, proceedings of such nature. The initiation of any proceedings in these domains shall result in the termination of the procedure under this protocol.

Guarantees in the procedure

• Protection of persons and respect for honour: Proceedings shall be conducted under the principles of inquiry, verification, and contradiction, with the utmost prudence and respect for the persons involved
• Confidentiality: All persons involved in the procedure are obligated to maintain strict confidentiality, signing a confidentiality declaration at their first intervention
• Diligence: Investigation and resolution shall be conducted with maximum immediacy, without undue delays, concluding as soon as it is rationally determined that no further inquiry or evidence gathering is possible
• Contradiction: The procedure must aim to investigate facts, objectively establish them, and maintain proper chain of custody of evidence. Impartial hearing and equitable treatment for all persons involved or affected shall be guaranteed
• Victim restitution: If the improper action resulted in deterioration of the victim's working conditions, these shall be documented to facilitate subsequent adoption of personalised restorative, corrective, and/or palliative measures
• Protection of victims' health: The company must adopt pertinent measures to guarantee the right to health protection of affected persons
• Prohibition of retaliation: Intimidation, harassment, or retaliation against persons who report facts, testify, or participate in investigations shall result in the opening of a corresponding proceeding under this Protocol

Investigation Commission

From initiation to conclusion, the Investigation Commission shall be composed of two or more persons, members of the Equality Commission at the time the facts become known, designated from within its membership — preferably with profiles related to human resources, sociology, psychology, occupational health and safety, or compliance.

At least one member shall direct the investigations and another shall coordinate actions and document what has been done and its results, at minimum in a concise record, in clear form that is enforceable against third parties, duly signed by all participants.

All actions of the Investigation Commission shall be carried out in the simultaneous presence of at least two of its members.

Unless special circumstances of complexity arise, an optimal processing period should not exceed two working weeks.

Initiation, registration, and communication phase

Any communication of improper conduct shall be registered and archived by the Equality Commission.

The recipient of the complaint — who may be any member of the Equality Commission — shall convene a committee session.

Communications of improper conduct may be made by email to the designated ethical mailbox or verbally or in writing to any member of the Equality Commission.

The procedure shall be initiated under the principle of credibility regarding the report of conduct with the appearance of improper conduct as defined in this Protocol.

The initial report shall be recorded in the initiation record, which shall contain — in addition to the designation of those responsible for processing — a detailed account of the facts giving rise to the procedure, including a detailed description of the conduct, its content, temporal extent, possible active and passive subjects, possible witnesses, and any data or information facilitating future verification.

Investigation phase

Directed at investigating, verifying, and documenting the facts — particularly in relation to the possible offender(s), any other person who may reasonably be expected to have knowledge, and the victim(s).

Any new evidentiary findings shall be secured and preserved.

Conclusion phase

The conclusion record must contain with sufficient detail and precision: the statement of facts (with reference to evidentiary elements where applicable), their assessment, and a proposed course of action for the Equality Commission to adopt the appropriate decision.

The assessment must address:

• Whether relevant conduct or indicators are found within the scope of the Anti-Harassment Protocol
• If relevant conduct is found, whether it is apparently subject to labour or criminal sanctions

The proposal must address the applicable category:

• No relevant conduct found within the scope of the Protocol
• Relevant conduct found without appearance of labour and/or criminal infraction
• Conduct apparently sanctionable under labour law
• Conduct apparently sanctionable under criminal law

Measures and actions by the Equality Commission

Based on the investigation findings, the Equality Commission shall adopt appropriate final measures and actions, supervise compliance, ensure the established guarantees are met, and conduct subsequent monitoring and evaluations.

The measures to be adopted shall be adjusted according to the type of harassment and the applicable category:

No relevant conduct found:

• Inform the complainant(s) and potential victims
• Preserve their right to pursue other legal avenues
• Adopt monitoring and prevention measures as needed
• Only in cases of proven bad faith in the complaint shall disciplinary proceedings be initiated against the responsible persons

Relevant conduct without apparent labour or criminal infraction:

• Inform the complainant(s) and potential victims
• Offer support or palliative measures to the victim, including psychological or psychiatric care
• Adopt restorative labour measures as applicable
• Admonish and warn the offender
• Propose an apology to the victim
• Offer psychological or psychiatric help to the offender if applicable
• Implement monitoring and prevention measures

Conduct apparently sanctionable under labour law:

• Notify the company, transferring evidentiary elements for the exercise of the employer's disciplinary power
• Unless the final qualification is a very serious infraction with disciplinary dismissal: admonish and warn the offender, request an apology to the victim
• Offer support measures to the victim, especially upon return from sick leave
• Implement monitoring and prevention measures

Conduct apparently sanctionable under criminal law:

• Accompany the victim(s) in reporting the facts to the public authorities, providing all evidentiary elements
• Notify the company for the exercise of disciplinary power as appropriate
• Offer support and palliative measures to the victim, including psychological or psychiatric care

Final report

Once all assessments and actions are completed, the Equality Commission shall prepare a conclusions report for the company management, containing:

1. Identification of the relevant fact under the Anti-Harassment Protocol
2. Statement of relevant facts and investigations
3. Assessment of the facts
4. Decisions adopted based on the assessment
5. Monitoring and prevention to be carried out

Dissemination, Monitoring, and Review

Dissemination

For the dissemination of this Anti-Harassment Protocol, the following actions are established:

1. Prior to approval: Communication to managers with direct reports, in an open and participatory manner, incorporating suggestions and improvements. HR, Occupational Health and Safety, Equality Commission members, and/or external advisors shall participate as appropriate
2. After approval: A general initial communication from the Equality Commission to all staff, covering the protocol's existence, purpose, fundamental content, and information repositories, as well as the procedure for filing complaints
3. Specific subsequent treatment within internal area meetings with assigned personnel and their corresponding manager
4. Additional communications as determined by management or the Equality Commission

All dissemination actions shall be documented in concise records kept by the Equality Commission.

Monitoring and review

Monitoring and review of this Protocol is the responsibility of the Equality Commission, which shall consider it as a specific item in its meetings — at least quarterly, or extraordinarily when circumstances warrant.

Monitoring forms shall be completed, documenting: subject, proposal date, execution date, review date, associated costs and resources, and responsible person(s).

All of the above shall be reflected in the corresponding Annual Report, on the basis of which — under principles of timeliness, or in response to regulatory changes — appropriate revisions shall be established.

Leymann Inventory (LIPT-60)

Conduct that constitutes workplace harassment

A. Activities aimed at reducing the victim's ability to communicate adequately:

1. The harasser does not allow the victim the opportunity to communicate
2. The victim is continually interrupted when speaking
3. Colleagues prevent the victim from expressing themselves
4. Colleagues shout at, yell at, and insult the victim
5. Verbal attacks criticising work performed
6. Criticism of the victim's private life
7. The victim is terrorised with phone calls
8. Verbal threats
9. Written threats
10. Contact with the victim is rejected (avoiding eye contact, through gestures of rejection, contempt, or disdain)
11. The victim's presence is ignored, for example by addressing only third parties

B. Activities aimed at preventing the victim from maintaining social contacts:

1. No one speaks to the victim
2. The victim is not allowed to address others
3. The victim is assigned a workstation that isolates them from colleagues
4. Colleagues are forbidden from speaking with the victim
5. The victim's physical presence is denied

C. Activities aimed at discrediting the victim or preventing them from maintaining their personal or professional reputation:

1. The victim is cursed or slandered
2. Gossip and rumours orchestrated by the harasser are spread about the victim
3. The victim is ridiculed
4. The victim is attributed as being mentally ill
5. Attempts are made to force a psychiatric examination or diagnosis
6. A supposed illness of the victim is fabricated
7. The victim's gestures, posture, voice, and manner are imitated for ridicule
8. The victim's political or religious beliefs are attacked
9. The victim's private life is mocked
10. The victim's origins or nationality are mocked
11. The victim is forced to perform humiliating work
12. The victim's work is inequitably monitored, noted, and recorded in malicious terms
13. The victim's decisions are questioned or challenged
14. The victim is insulted in obscene or degrading terms
15. The victim is sexually harassed with gestures or propositions

D. Activities aimed at reducing the victim's employment and employability through professional discrediting:

1. No work is assigned to the victim
2. The victim is deprived of any occupation, and care is taken that they cannot find any task on their own
3. Totally useless or absurd tasks are assigned
4. Tasks far below the victim's professional capacity or competence are assigned
5. New tasks are constantly assigned
6. Humiliating work is assigned
7. Tasks requiring experience beyond the victim's professional competence are assigned

E. Activities affecting the victim's physical or mental health:

1. The victim is forced to perform dangerous or particularly unhealthy work
2. The victim is physically threatened
3. The victim is physically assaulted, but without severity, as a warning
4. The victim is physically assaulted without restraint
5. Expenses are deliberately caused to harm the victim
6. Damage is caused to the victim's workstation or home
7. The victim is sexually assaulted

Conduct that does NOT constitute workplace harassment (though it may constitute other infractions)

1. Substantial modifications to working conditions without cause and without following established procedures
2. Pressure to extend working hours or perform certain work
3. Despotic conduct directed indiscriminately at several workers
4. Conflicts during strikes, protests, etc.
5. Isolated and successive offences by various individuals without coordination
6. Non-qualifying warnings for not performing work well
7. Personal and union conflicts

Procedure flowchart