Organic Law 7/2007 on Equality between men and women, in its Article 48, establishes that regarding sexual harassment and harassment based on sex, companies are obligated to implement specific procedures for its prevention and to provide a channel for complaints or claims that may be filed by those who have been subjected to it. Thus, the harassment protocol is the tool that every company or self-employed person with employees must have.

The procedures must, in all cases, respect the privacy, confidentiality, and dignity of the individuals affected by the harassment.

You can use our harassment protocol creation service through the following form:

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The cost of creating it is €100 + VAT for our retainer clients. 

For non-retainer clients, the cost is €250 + VAT for companies or self-employed individuals with up to 99 workers. 

For non-retainer companies with 100 or more workers, please inquire for pricing.

In accordance with the obligation established in Art. 48 of Law 3/2007 on Equality, EVERY WORKPLACE OF EVERY COMPANY or SELF-EMPLOYED PERSON with ONE OR MORE WORKERS must have a PROTOCOL AGAINST SEXUAL HARASSMENT. 

The document should be reviewed periodically, according to the frequency agreed upon by the company and the equality committee, with an annual review being ideal.

It is mandatory for the company to monitor and create a record EACH YEAR of any discriminatory and harassment situations that have been reported and/or detected.

That task falls to the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate, which carries out periodic campaigns to verify that companies have a protocol. The absence of one is subject to penalties.

Failure to comply with this requirement is classified as a Very Serious Infraction in Article 8 of the LISOS (Law on Infractions and Sanctions in the Social Order) and can be sanctioned with fines ranging from €6,251 to €187,515.

Companies and self-employed individuals can face various types of liabilities. The absence of a harassment protocol constitutes an aggravating factor in certain legal proceedings, as seen, for example, in relation to the concept of "Culpa in vigilando" (a Latin term meaning "negligence in supervision"). There are court rulings that have resulted in companies facing substantial claims for damages in harassment cases, such as the one dated December 28, 2018, from the Social Court No. 3 of A Coruña:

"And I understand that this conviction must also extend to the defendant company because even though it denies knowledge of what happened and alleges that the plaintiff herself admits not having reported it until the start of her temporary disability, not returning to work thereafter, and therefore it could no longer take any measures, I do not share these allegations, as the following points must be taken into account:

– Firstly, that it is the company's responsibility to guarantee the health and safety of workers in all aspects related to their work and that it must adopt whatever measures are necessary for this purpose (Articles 4.2(d) and 19.1 of the ET [Workers' Statute], Article 14 of Law 31/1995 of November 8 on the Prevention of Occupational Risks, STSJ of Galicia of March 16, 2018);

– Secondly... that there was no one, beyond the legal representative himself, who had personnel-related functions to whom the female workers could address their complaints or who would take an interest in the conditions in which they carried out their work;

"....From all the above, it is deduced that it neglected its duties to protect the health of its workers, for which reason it must be ordered to be jointly and severally liable for the corresponding compensation, either for not carrying out the actions it was obliged to take to prevent behaviors like those reported or to put an end to them and prevent them in the future."

If the protocol is not part of a mandatory equality plan, it is not required to be registered. Registration is voluntary.