Last Updated on 22/10/2025

Conflict or Harassment?

Art 12a of the Staff Regulations starts with: "An official shall refrain from any action or behaviour which might reflect adversely upon his position." and thereafter defines psychological harassment that consists of repetitive or systematic improper behaviour as well as sexual harassment. 

Most colleagues feeling harassed come to Union Syndicale Fédérale-Luxembourg with a description of events they undergo, which unfortunately do not fall into the psychological harassment definition (as laid down in the Staff Regulations). Indeed, when looking at the few officially recognized cases of psychological harassment, it is obvious that formal recognition of such harassment is close to impossible. Why is that so? Well, our employer has put in place some kind of filtering, according to which an informal procedure is launched, that leads colleagues through a confidential counsellor's network (with a Chief Confidential Counsellor) and/or the Mediation service who do their best to advise and/or help colleagues with harassment complaints.  

According to the rules in place this informal procedure does not lead to any official harassment recognition. If the result of this procedure is not satisfactory for the colleague feeling harassed, the formal procedure can be launched. The formal procedure is carried out by the IDOC (the internal enquiry service), which is a DG HR service or by OLAF. 

 

In fact, the informal procedure diminishes the proportion of colleagues who finally launch the formal procedure. However, one should note that there is no obligation to go through the informal procedure before going to the formal one. 

 

Harassment situations may originate from a conflict at work which is not addressed in a timely manner. However, this does not mean that all conflicts at work are harassment (repetitive or systematic improper behaviour). Consequently, anything that is not formally considered as harassment (not repetitive or systematic improper behaviour) is considered as a conflict. 

 

In case of harassment, the confidential counsellor network, the Mediation service and IDOC are not the only actors who can help. The formal and informal procedures also often involve the social and medical services (social workers are attached hierarchically to the medical service). 

 

Union Syndicale Fédérale-Luxembourg believes that each colleague involved in a conflict or harassment situation deserves attention, listening and understanding. Therefore, USF-L offers its support to complete the system deficiencies.  

Do not hesitate to contact us! 

 

Disclaimer: 

We always try to provide you with the latest information. However, the fast evolution of the situation does not always allow us to timely update this page content. The references hereunder (leaflets and news) might provide you with additional information. However, if you need to have a quick update don't hesitate to contact us: REP-PERS-OSP-USF-LUXEMBOURG@ec.europa.eu   

 

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