A complaint procedure will open when:
- An agreement has not been reached or the person who believes they are being harassed does not agree with the proposed measures.
- The alleged aggressor assumes their actions with malicious intent.
- The harassing conduct(s) have not ceased even though the harasser has interacted with the persons concerned.
- The case is serious or very serious.
The internal complaint procedure must be diligent, both to put an end to the harassing conduct as soon as possible and mitigate the possible effects on the victim, and to avoid damaging the interests of the person reported. A maximum period of 20 calendar days is established for the processing and resolution of complaints.
PRESENTATION OF INTERNAL COMPLAINT
A written complaint should be drawn up using the attached model (Annex 1), which shall be sent to the Contact Person(s) who supervised the previous phase.
In the event that the alleged acts are directed against any of the members of the Investigating Committee, the complainant may, exceptionally, address the complaint to the Centre Management, who shall designate an internal or external person with appropriate training in the prevention of harassment to investigate the complaint process.
In the event that the management itself could be implicated in the perpetration of the facts, the complainant may, exceptionally, address the complaint to the HR department of the entity, which will be responsible for managing the investigation in accordance with the protocol in force or by appointing an internal or external person with appropriate training in the prevention of harassment to investigate the complaint process.
INVESTIGATION OF REPORTED EVENTS
Once the complaint has been received, the Contact Persons will form what will be known as the Investigating Committee. The Investigating Committee shall carry out as many proceedings, tests and actions as it deems appropriate to clarify the facts reported, hearing all parties, witnesses and other persons who are deemed to be able to provide information. It shall also issue a binding report on the existence or not of a situation of harassment and shall propose intervention measures.
By way of example and without being limiting, the Investigating Committee will be in charge of:
- Analysing the complaint and the accompanying documentation.
- Interviewing the person making the complaint and informing them of the procedure and possible courses of action, as well as the right to health surveillance. If the facts are not sufficiently described in the complaint, an additional account of the facts will be requested.
- Interviewing the person being reported against.
- Interviewing possible witnesses.
- Assessing whether precautionary measures are necessary.
- Issuing the binding report.
It is important to understand that:
The person making the complaint only has to provide evidence that substantiates the harassment, and it is up to the alleged harasser to prove its absence, in line with the procedural principle of the reversal of the burden of proof.
In this regard, Article 32.2.e. of Law 17/2015, of 21 July, on effective equality of women and men, which applies
to Catalonia but which we consider to be applicable to all companies:
“In this type of complaint and claim, the principle of reversal of the burden of proof must be applied, according to which when the acting or interested party alleges this type of harassment and provides substantiated evidence, it is up to the defendant, or to whom the harassment is imputed, to provide an objective and reasonable justification, sufficiently proven, of the measures taken and their proportionality”.
The persons involved in the procedure are obliged to maintain strict confidentiality and reserve, and must not pass on or divulge information about the content of the complaints filed, resolved or under investigation of which they are aware.
In accordance with the principle of confidentiality, the person(s) responsible for the initiation and processing will assign identifying code numbers to both the alleged harassed person and the alleged harasser to preserve their identity in the process and the report.