Luxembourg
Overview
Please review the information below and then return to the workplace harassment prevention course.
Harassment and discrimination based on a protected characteristic are prohibited under national law. National law also provides employees protection from bullying.
Applicable Laws
The primary national law prohibiting employment discrimination and harassment the Labour Code.
Under the Labour Code, employers have an obligation to take all necessary preventative measures to ensure the dignity of workers, including measures to prevent sexual harassment and moral harassment.
Protected Characteristics
Harassment or discrimination based on any characteristic set forth below is prohibited in Luxembourg.
- Religion or beliefs
- Disability
- Age
- Sex
- Sexual orientation
- Membership or non-membership, real or supposed, of a nationality, race or ethnicity
Regional, state or other political subdivision laws may provide additional, separate standards and remedies for certain prohibited conduct.
Definitions
Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment in employment means any behavior with sexual connotations or any other behavior based on sex that the perpetrator knows or should know affects the dignity of a person, when one of the following conditions is met:
- the behavior is unwanted, intrusive, abusive, and hurtful to the person experiencing it;
- the fact that a person refuses or accepts such conduct on the part of an employer, employee, customer or supplier is used explicitly or implicitly as the basis for a decision affecting that person’s rights in matters of vocational training, employment, continued employment, promotion, salary or any other employment-related decision;
- such behaviour creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for the person who is the subject of it.
The targeted behavior may be physical, verbal, or nonverbal.
The intentional element of the conduct is presumed.
Moral Harassment
Moral harassment means any conduct which, through its repetition or systematization, undermines the dignity or psychological or physical integrity of a person.
Moral harassment can occur during business trips, professional training, communications related to or arising from work by any means whatsoever and outside normal working hours.
Filing a Claim in Luxembourg
A claim for employment discrimination or harassment may be filed with the Inspectorate of Labour and Mines.
Employment discrimination and harassment claims may also be filed in court.
Penalties
An employer, worker or a third party external to the workplace who is found to have violated discrimination or harassment law may be subject to monetary penalties.
Potential Remedies
In Luxembourg, an employee who has experienced workplace discrimination or harassment may be entitled to monetary and other remedies. An employer may be required to take certain actions to correct or redress discriminatory harassment or violations of workplace safety standards. Potential remedies are listed below.
- Hiring
- Transfers
- Reassignments
- Promotions
- Reinstatement to a position
- Compensation for lost wages and benefits
- Damages for injury to dignity or feelings
- Cease and desist orders
Retaliation Prohibited
Retaliation against an employee who protests or reports discrimination or harassment or who files a complaint or participates in an investigation relating to discrimination or harassment is prohibited.