The persons hired based on a verbal agreement are more predisposed to the risk of experiencing abusive behaviors at the workplace given that the informal sector workers are not covered by protection policies or insurance measures. The worrisome situation concerning the safety of persons at the workplace was analyzed in a study entitled “Sexual harassment at the workplace: between perceptions and reality” that was presented by the Center “Partnership for Development” (CPD) and the Coalition for Inclusion and Nondiscrimination, IPN reports.
Cristina Cojocaru, CPD project assistant, said the men, who are present in the informal sector in a larger number, more often face deviant behaviors at the workplace, such as verbal abuse, quarrels, threats and swearing.
Also, a larger number of young employees from urban areas, who have a higher socioeconomic status, said that they were exposed to particular forms of harassment at the workplace - moderate and grave. “These data do not necessarily show a higher incidence of cases of harassment in this group of employees, but can indicate a higher capacity to recognize these acts as a form of harassment,” said the project assistant.
Cristina Cojocaru noted that about 60% of the abused employed persons didn’t report the cases they experienced and didn’t seek help. This is primary due to the perceptions of harassment as most of the cases are not perceived as harassment.
“Sexual harassment most often occurs during the work program. Even if security at work is ensured by law, sexual harassment continues to persist at the workplace. This shows that the internal employee policies and the current legal framework do not adequately regulate this phenomenon. Currently, the employers who do not take measures to combat this phenomenon at the workplace cannot be held accountable,” stated Cristina Cojocaru.
According to the poll, the cases of sexual harassment are more frequent among women. Over the past 12 months, about 18% of the abused women at least once in two-three months faced subtle and moderate forms of sexual harassment. Also, over 60% of the employees consider the sexually harassed persons caused such situations themselves by outfits or behaviors. About 40% of the respondents believe the firm refusal is sufficient to discourage the acts of sexual harassment. Approximately 50% of the interviewed employees think the persons who say they were harassed exaggerate. Such attitudes to the victims of sexual harassment discourage the tendency to report such cases.
Over 8% of the employees in Moldova at least once experienced a form of sexual harassment at the workplace. In general, 11% of the persons harassed at the workplace experienced serious forms of harassment, such as demand to have sex in exchange for recompense, use of force and/or of threats to make them to have sex, 22% – moderate forms (undue touching, unwanted kisses, invitations to dates, etc.), 67% –subtle forms (indecent language, undue looks and gestures, etc.).
