THE MOBBING PORTAL

ABSTRACT

"Medico-legal implications of mobbing: A false accusation
of psychological harassment at the workplace"

Begoña, Martinez Jarretta, Javier Garcia Campayo,
Santiago Gascón, Miguel Bolea

Abstract:  

Mobbing, or psychological harassment at the workplace, is usually defined as a situation in which a person or a group of people engage in extreme psychological violence against another person. In Spain, the number of reports for mobbing has increased extraordinarily in the last years. The reports are increasing dramatically not only before the Labour Courts, but also before the Civil Courts, with claims for damages, and before the Penal Court for offences causing physical or moral injury, etc., since at the present time this figure is not typified as an offence in the Spanish Penal Code. The high degree of complexity of this situation has given rise to frequent misuse of the term and to a number of false accusations of mobbing. A recent European Parliament Resolution on harassment at the workplace addressed the devastating consequences of false accusations. In this paper we present a case in which the false victim was mentally ill (paranoia) but succeed in generating an extreme dangerous environment of great harassment against the false assailants that were falsely accused of mobbing. Forensic diagnosis of the psychiatric disorder suffered by the false victim was essential to clarify the issue at the Penal Court.

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