Chile Labor – Sexual Harassment Prevention

What is Ley Karin?

Ley Karin (Law 21.643) came into force on August 1, 2024, establishing a clear legal framework for the prevention and punishment of harassment and violence in Chilean workplaces.

The goal is to promote dignity and safety in the workplace by preventing both psychological and sexual harassment, imposing stringent requirements on employers to maintain harassment-free environments.

The regulation was created in response to the case of Karin Salgado, a public health worker who suffered constant harassment at a hospital in Southern Chile, which received national media coverage.

Key Aspects of Ley Karin:

This new law incorporates new legal definitions and improves existing ones, such as workplace harassment, sexual harassment, workplace violence by third parties outside the labor relationship and non-discrimination, in addition to incorporating the gender perspective in labor relations explicitly in Art. 2 of the Labor Code.

• Harassment Prevention: Employers are required to take proactive measures to prevent psychological and sexual harassment.
• Victim Protection: The law safeguards employees who report harassment, ensuring they are protected from retaliation.
• Employer Responsibilities: Companies must offer training on harassment prevention and establish reporting channels for misconduct.

 

Karin’s Law defines five key behaviors that are sanctioned:

Sexual Harassment:  “understood as the improper making, by any means, of requests of a sexual nature, not consented to by the person who receives them, and which threaten or harm their employment situation or employment opportunities”.

The following conduct may be considered sexual harassment:

• Sending or showing videos or photographs of a sexual nature, by any means.
• Direct action, such as some type of physical contact.
• Double entendre or sexist jokes.
• Improper invitations and innuendo.
• Promises.
• Blackmail.
• Pressure on a person to engage in sexual activity against his or her will, by threat, manipulation or other means.
• Offensive or hostile treatment.
• In general, any request of a sexual nature not consented to by the person receiving them

Labor Harassment: “understood as any conduct that constitutes aggression or harassment exercised by the employer or by one or more workers against another or other workers, by any means, whether it is manifested once or repeatedly, and that results in the affected worker or workers being undermined, mistreated or humiliated, or that threatens or harms their employment situation or their employment opportunities”.

Workplace harassment, in addition to physical aggression, includes psychological harassment, emotional or mental abuse, by any means, and it should be noted that the mere threat to any aspect associated with the work situation of the affected person is not tolerable. Harassment at work can occur, among other behaviors, by action or omission.

Workplace violence exercised by third parties such as suppliers: “understood as those behaviors that affect workers, on the occasion of the provision of services, by clients, suppliers or users, among others”. For example: shouting or threats, use of scribbles or offensive words, blows, robberies or assaults in the workplace, or other conduct resulting in physical injury, psychological damage or death.

Likewise, sexist behaviors can also be the beginning of an escalation of behaviors that end in violence and harassment, especially gender-based harassment and violence.

Incivility: Incivility encompasses discourteous or rude behavior that lacks a clear intent to harm, but conflicts with standards of mutual respect.

Without clear guidelines, discourteous behavior can perpetuate and generate situations of hostility or violence that need to be eradicated from the workplace.

In order to prevent possible harassment or violence, it is necessary, among other things, to promote work environments that:

• Encourage the appropriate tone of voice devoid of aggressiveness when speaking;
• Avoiding hostile and discriminatory non-verbal physical gestures, encouraging friendly behavior in the work environment; respect for the personal spaces of other workers,
• Encouraging staff to consult, in case of doubts, about the use of tools, materials or other implements belonging to others;
• Maintaining the confidentiality of information that has been provided in the personal context by another person at work, to the extent that such situation does not constitute a crime or cover up a potential situation of workplace or sexual harassment.

Sexism: is any expression (an act, a word, an image, a gesture) based on the idea that some people are inferior because of their sex or gender.

Examples of hostile sexism could be: comments denigrating women or diversities based on such condition; sexist or discriminatory humor and jokes towards women or diversities based on such condition; comments about physiological phenomena of a woman or diversities; silencing or denigration based on sex or gender.

Obligations of Employers in view of this new regulation:

1. It is established as mandatory for companies to have a Protocol for the prevention of labor and/or sexual harassment and violence at work, reinforcing a preventive approach that was absent in the previous regulations. This must be done under the guidelines established by the Superintendence of Social Security (SUSESO). The Protocol must comply with a minimum content established in the Law.

2. The company must take measures to prevent and control such risks, with measurable objectives, to monitor the effectiveness of such measures and ensure their continuous improvement and correction. Early psychological care provided through the programs by the respective administrative body of Law No. 16,744, is a preventive tool to address the eventual affectation of the victim’s mental health, and the referral to be made by the employer (for an event of harassment or violence) is part of the protection measures that the employer must adopt with respect to the affected worker, without prejudice to the voluntary assistance of the victim.

3. The company must also take measures to adequately inform and train workers on the risks identified and evaluated, as well as the prevention and protection measures to be adopted, including the rights and responsibilities of the workers and those of the employing entity.

4. In accordance with the provisions of Law No. 21,643 (Karin Law), in addition to the protocol, employers are obliged to inform workers every six months of the channels available for receiving complaints regarding non-compliance with the prevention, investigation and punishment of sexual harassment, workplace harassment and violence at work and any other non-compliance with labor regulations, as well as access to social security benefits.

5. The Employer has the obligation to investigate when an event is reported that may constitute sexual harassment, workplace harassment or workplace violence. This obligation requires the prior obligation to incorporate in the Internal Regulations of Order, Hygiene and Safety of the Company (RIOHS) or in the Internal Regulations of Safety and Hygiene at Work (RIHS) the respective investigation procedure.

Safeguard measures may be taken during the investigation and must be recorded in writing and substantiated.

6. The foregoing is without prejudice to the duty of the employing entity to inform the whistleblower channels when the facts may constitute crimes.

7. Finally, the employer has the obligation to sanction sexual harassment, labor harassment and violence in the workplace with verbal warnings, written warnings or fines depending on the seriousness of the conduct, without prejudice to the sanctions provided by law in the case of serious misconduct, duly proven.

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