Personal insult in the workplace - what you can do

Citizens who have experienced harassment in the workplace should explain to the offenders that they can be held accountable for such behavior. Although since 2012 the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for criminal punishment only for insulting a government official , these offenders can be brought to administrative responsibility for insulting in the workplace, in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Administrative Offences.
Dear readers! To solve your specific problem, call the hotline or visit the website. It's free.
8 (800) 350-31-84

Basic moments

Insult – humiliation of dignity in any place, regardless of whether we are talking about the workplace or public places. Its presence may have a negative impact on the career of the culprit.

For example, if a teacher is humiliated in the presence of children, his authority will be negatively affected. This is largely due to the difficulty of re-establishing contact with students in the future.

The following can be considered an insult:

• obscene language;
• various offensive gestures;
• sending letters, distributing information on the Internet that is humiliating in nature.

If there are doubts about the presence of obscene language and insults, experts may be required when going to court.

It is their responsibility to determine the rules for using semantic language norms.

Features of the crime

Many people, when confronted with abusers, threaten the offenders with criminal punishment. Such a threat can only be considered inertia.

Since 2012, the Criminal Code punishes only insulting a person in power. All others should contact the Administrative Code.

Concept and legal characteristics

Article 5.61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses speaks of insult in general.
The official situation of this offense is not considered in any separate section of the article. What exactly can be considered an insult? Two things are important here:

• the offender seeks to humiliate the dignity and/or honor of his victim;
• the actions of the perpetrator are clothed in some indecent form, that is, they “do not suffer” from the ethics of words and/or actions.

Such an offense must have a perpetrator and an addressee. This can be explained with a simple example.

Let’s assume that a client came to the company’s office with complaints and contacted an available manager. The issue was considered, but it was not immediately possible to resolve the problem.

If a client swears obscenely without addressing anyone, this will not be an insult to anyone present. And if the addressee is a specific employee present, he may regard this as an insult

Of course, it is also important what exactly the offender says/does

Here it is rational to turn to sociological research. They identified the offending factors empirically. The following may be considered offensive:

• all obscene or obscene expressions (usually swearing, swearing);
• various comparisons - for example, with animals or objects;
• unwanted, cynical touching;
• obscene gestures;
• movements that may result in clothing or part of it being torn off from the victim.

Read on to learn more about the signs and articles for insulting a person (an employee) in the workplace.

Composition of the crime and qualifying characteristics

In this case, it is more correct to talk about the elements of the offense. The circumstances of this act have already been discussed in the previous section.

It remains to add something important. Let’s imagine: a person is at work, and someone’s statement offends him

Has an offense taken place? Not really, since we are still talking about personal perception.

• Let’s say that employee Ekaterina was teased “Katyusha-piggy” as a child, after which she hated the specific diminutive form of her name. An uninitiated person can call an employee exactly that and thereby insult her. However, from the point of view of etiquette, we are talking here only about some familiarity; there is nothing obscene in the words of an unwitting offender.
• But if the interlocutor says something like “Katyusha, you (you) are such a badass,” then there is at least a comparison with a representative of the fauna. This behavior is consistent with one of the items in the list at the end of the previous section. Here we can talk about insult not only in terms of personal offense, but also from the point of view of generally accepted norms.

The second and third parts of Article 5.61 are devoted to qualified types of offenses, respectively. In one of them we are talking about a publicly committed insult, in the other - about allowing such an act. Now a little more detail.

Read below about what types of insult to a person (employee, colleague) in the workplace are defined by the Labor Code, the Code of Administrative Offences, and other regulations.

Types of insult

In Article 5.61 itself, the division of insult into types is extremely simple; the act may or may not be public. Considering the topic of insults at work, we will have to turn to the practical experience of lawyers.

• Perhaps the most common cases are when insults come from colleagues. At some large enterprises, such situations (with a certain amount of connivance) can arise daily and repeatedly.
• Insults from superiors towards subordinates are another large group of cases.
• Finally, a person at his workplace may be insulted by an outsider - for example, a client of a company, a buyer of a store.

Rules on this issue

In all cases of insult, Article 5.61 will have to be followed. Article 130 of the Criminal Code, which is still sometimes mentioned on various Internet resources, has not been in force for several years.

In addition, the Russian Constitution protects the dignity of the individual. This is stated in Article 21.

Types of insult

Article 5.61 divides insults into public and non-public.

In the workplace, abuse can be constant and everyday. Especially in large manufacturing enterprises, employees insult each other a lot during work. Insults can also be heard from superiors towards subordinates. Workers can also be offended by other people—clients or customers.

If the insult is expressed verbally, then you need to understand whether it can be considered indecent. All this must be kept in mind when drawing up a statement regarding an offense.

The insult can be expressed using ordinary everyday words, but the essence of the statement can be extremely indecent.

What to do

The issue for Russia is quite complex. A huge number of people suffer abuse in their workplaces every day. Experts (psychologists, sociologists) note that this is currently the sad specificity of our country.

This is especially true in situations where the offender is the boss and the victim is a subordinate. Even if polite communication is stipulated in the employment contract, this does not guarantee the protection of employees.

Sometimes people simply have no way to fight their offenders. However, if such an opportunity arises, it must be taken advantage of.

We will tell you further about how to write a complaint statement about being insulted by obscene language at work.

The following video will tell you what to do if you are insulted at work:

How to file a complaint?

Everything here is subject to the standards of statements of this kind. In a complaint about personal insult in the workplace, you must provide the following information:

• date and time of the offense;
• who allowed it;
• what exactly was done and how;
• request for action.

Read below about where to go to report for harassment in the workplace.

Where should I submit it?

At many enterprises, polite treatment is provided for by various internal rules, employment contracts, and other documents.

• In this case, if the offender is a colleague, you can complain to one of the managers.
• If you cannot resolve a conflict within an enterprise, you need to contact representatives of the law. It is interesting that the Code of Administrative Offenses has Article 28.4, which directly states: cases under Article 5.61 are the responsibility of the prosecutor. So lawyers sometimes recommend filing an application with the prosecutor’s office.
• Or you can go straight to court. In this case, we will no longer be talking about a complaint, but about a statement of claim, but this in no way changes the essence of the matter. Indeed, in both cases, the offended person defends his rights.

In any case, the most important part of the case is the evidence. It is best if there are witnesses who are willing to testify. True, if the offender is the boss, you can’t always count on the testimony of eyewitnesses to the situation.

Other ways to prove an insult include recordings from office video cameras, especially if not only video is recorded, but also audio is recorded.

It is possible to prove verbal abuse if the victim had a voice recorder on at the time of the conversation. When submitting such evidence for consideration, lawyers recommend simultaneously attaching a transcript (however, if the sound recording is of good quality, there is no need for it).

Only high-quality and correctly collected evidence will help you win in such a case. Read below about the penalties for insulting someone in the workplace.

Why you can’t help but react to the rudeness of your subordinates

If an employee is so outraged that he begins to be rude to the manager, it is useless to convince him not to do this, to appeal to his conscience and corporate ethics. But I will tell you how I calmed down one boor , and how dramatically his behavior changed.

And what do “armchair theorists” offer us from management, who have never held leadership positions in their lives, but have filled the entire Internet with their advice? How do they propose to deal with the rudeness of subordinates?

They offer to laugh it off and train your wit, they offer to memorize tables with possible answers to the boorish antics of your subordinates.

But there is one “but”, if you spend the whole day looking for witty phrases on the Internet (don’t forget that your subordinates are also sitting there, and are also looking for ways to better piss you off ), then you will not have time for your direct responsibilities, which threatens you with a thrashing from your management.

You might be interested:

• How to become a tough leader >>>
• How to manage subordinates if they don’t listen >>>
• How to quickly get used to the role of a leader - Techniques for working with the subconscious >>>
• How to stop being a jerk >>>
• How to become confident and increase self-esteem >>>

I propose to eliminate the very reason for rudeness, namely, that they consider you a “weak individual” , and consider it possible to take away your resources, namely the most irreplaceable resource - your time.

This happens because they read your non-verbal signals of fear and uncertainty , and that is why they allow themselves to behave in a boorish manner.

How to quickly and forever get rid of irrational fear (Fear of a boss, impudent subordinate, etc.), read here >>>

How I solved this problem, once and for all, I described in detail in this technique.

And if you surf the Internet every time, you will leave less and less time for yourself and your family. Not to mention the fact that by hushing up the problem, burying your head in the sand, you thereby humiliate yourself, despise yourself, and consider yourself unworthy of respect from other people.

But you need to love and respect yourself, because you are alone, and never allow “animal people” to treat you inappropriately.

Moreover, this program of disrespect for yourself will be passed on to your children, that is, they will also allow themselves to be treated in a similar way. Children unconsciously copy the behavioral patterns of their parents.

A very good example of the animal behavior of people of a lower degree of awareness is shown in the film “Dogville” with Nicole Kidman in the title role. She's young and very beautiful, I recommend it to everyone, and the finale is awesome.

The behavior of such people is also shown in the film “Fool” directed by Yuri Bykov. Look what they did to the main character who tried to save them.

To stop the rudeness of employees, I propose to arrange a demonstrative execution, and the more stressful the experience for your subordinates, the stronger the conditioned reflex that

You can’t be rude to a manager, it will hurt.

It’s almost like if a child once put his hand into boiling water, then the next time no force will force him to do it.

Likewise, your subordinate, just the thought of being rude to his manager, should paralyze his breathing.

At the same time, you shouldn’t feel sorry for them; the more unemotional you behave, the better. Naturally, if during this “execution” you yourself shake with fear and uncertainty, then the effect may be the opposite. So first solve your problems with confidence and self-esteem . How to quickly do this is written here.

In short, you need to demonstrate strength. Since I started giving examples from cinema, watch another film: “Leviathan” directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev. Monologue: 1 hour 13 minutes, this film is on YouTube.

“Show strength” - this is what the bishop advises the confused mayor, who is being blackmailed and who is afraid of this compromising evidence:

“Where there is power, there is strength. If you are the authority in your area of ​​responsibility, resolve local issues yourself. With your strength. And don’t look for protection on the side. Otherwise the enemy will think that you are weak.”

Attention! Just don’t be imbued with hatred towards rude employees. It is unlikely that they consciously do evil. I think they are driven by animal instincts and dominate their behavior.

It's like being angry at a small child if he gets you dirty. He simply hasn’t matured enough to understand how he can behave and how he can’t.

You just need to explain to him in an “animal” language that he is wrong, that’s all. An example below in the text.

If you “rebuild” such an employee, you will only benefit him, because he is in complete “unconsciousness”, and from you he may receive that very “kick” that will lead him to insight, and he will finally think about his life, for what and why he lives.

An example of unconscious behavior is the actions of the Nazis during World War II, when they burned millions of people in crematorium ovens, they did not realize what they were doing.

Provided by SendPulse

Drawing up a complaint

There is nothing complicated in drawing up a complaint, but you need to know some important features. To eliminate the possibility of mistakes, it is advisable to consider in more detail the rules for drawing up and filing a complaint.

Who to contact?

Most companies provide polite communication:

• internal regulations;
• employment contract;
• other documentation.

In case of insults from colleagues, it is possible to report it to the management of the enterprise.

If it is impossible to resolve the conflict within the organization, it becomes necessary to contact the prosecutor's office. This is described in detail in Article 28.4 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

Also, the injured party reserves the right to file a corresponding claim in court. But in this case we are talking about the protection of personal rights.

How to confirm a fact?

Evidence is the most significant part of the case.

Other options include recordings from service video cameras.

Verbal insults are quite difficult to prove, since we are talking about providing an audio recording in the absence of witnesses.

Can an employer refuse to hand over a work book? Find out here.

How to make an application?

The application is drawn up according to the generally accepted rules of Russian legislation.

In particular, the document must include:

• date and time of the offense;
• information about who committed the insults;
• what exactly happened;
• a request to take the necessary measures.

It is strongly recommended that you specify the description of the offender's actions. For this reason, it is necessary to point out words and actions that are perceived by the injured party as an insult.

For example - “Koltakova A.V. lost her temper and shouted obscenities at me at work.”

Applications can be found here:

Evidence of public harassment at work

If you were publicly insulted at work, then you must have concrete evidence for each of the charges. Alas, the testimony of real witnesses is very difficult to provide, since outside employees who heard the insult will not always want to quarrel with management, etc., but there are often cases when office visitors and colleagues of the plaintiff were brought to court as witnesses. Consulting a lawyer in such cases can be very useful; he will tell you how to behave in court.

The most significant evidence is an audio recording, which will present the entire conversation from beginning to end, however, before directly recording the fact, it is advisable to record on a voice recorder information about the date and time the recording was made.

This is quite difficult to do, but such evidence is sometimes present in court proceedings. Video recording is similar evidence.

What it is

The article for insult was repeatedly changed by the legislator, and since 2014 it has been included in the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. The inadmissibility of humiliation of honor and dignity applies to all types of legal relations, including when performing duties at work. Insult, as a type of administrative offense under Article 5.61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, is characterized by the following features:

• the offense may be expressed orally or in writing;
• punishment will follow for insult in personal communication with the victim, and for public humiliation the size of sanctions will increase significantly;
• In order for the violator to be punished, the humiliation of honor and dignity must be expressed in an indecent form - this criterion is evaluative in nature and will be established by the court;
• liability under Art. 5.61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation will be borne by a citizen, official, or enterprise.

Note! The honor and dignity of citizens relate to personal non-property rights. Therefore, if the fact of insult is proven, in addition to an administrative sanction, compensation for moral damage can be recovered from the offender - this claim is brought according to the rules of civil proceedings.

claim for compensation for moral damage. A typical form of insult at work would be a boss or colleague making indecent remarks, using obscenities, derogatory words, etc.

It does not matter whether these statements are communicated to the collective or to random witnesses - punishment will follow even for insult in personal communication, correspondence with a colleague on the Internet, or posting indecent expressions in a public speech

A typical form of harassment at work would be a boss or colleague making indecent remarks, using obscenities, derogatory words, etc. It does not matter whether these statements are communicated to the collective or to random witnesses - punishment will follow even for insult in personal communication, correspondence with a colleague on the Internet, or posting indecent expressions in a public speech.

Useful advice from psychologists

If you have become the object of ridicule from colleagues, then the first thing you need to do is collect your thoughts and stop panicking.

You cannot give the offenders pleasure from the current situation, so it is important to pull yourself together and, in a calm atmosphere, consider further options for the development of events. It is worth noting that there is no difference in the position of your opponents - neither managers nor subordinates have the right to insult you

By following the following recommendations from professional psychologists, you will be able to correctly adjust your behavior and put in your place a boss or colleague who wants to laugh at your sense of dignity:

Try not to show your own emotions, so as not to satisfy the ego of the author of the prickly joke. You can stun him with a non-standard reaction to the words spoken - laugh along with the others, start a conversation on a distant topic, or loudly refute the authenticity of the words spoken. Respond to a caustic joke with a counter-mockery that does not affect your opponent’s self-esteem. If a colleague joked about the smell of your perfume in front of the whole team, then note its value: “In Italy, prisoners are tortured with the help of my perfume. Do you want to try?". The arrogance of the culprit will fade, and the team will support you. If you do not want to get involved in a verbal altercation with the newly-minted offender who has chosen you as a target, publicly inform your colleagues about this. Why answer a person whose jokes were relevant in kindergarten? Entering into a dialogue with kids from a nursery group is not your level, let your colleagues know this. If you are no stranger to acting, then the role of a deaf and curious person is an effective way to discredit the offender. With a perplexed face, repeat the content of the caustic joke, repeating the procedure until the culprit gets tired of fulfilling your requests. Refer to your opponent’s diction or lack of humor in his statements so that the newly-minted “enemy” loses confidence in his own abilities. Object to the offender by compromising him with a counter joke or a caustic answer. Your unwillingness to put up with the current state of affairs is a powerful argument for colleagues, demonstrating a sense of your dignity. Next time, the team members will choose a weaker person for ridicule, leaving you alone.

The main recommendation of psychologists is to show your colleagues that you are a self-sufficient person who needs to be respected.

By following the simple advice of psychologists, you can change the current state of affairs. Colleagues will begin to respect you, no longer making cutting jokes and caustic ridicule. If you demonstrate your self-esteem to the people around you, the team will definitely appreciate such an act. You cannot bend to public opinion, turning a blind eye to conflicts at work - this is an irrational decision that leads to uncomfortable feelings in a person. If you don’t set a goal by adjusting your behavior, then after a short period of time only a psychotherapist can help you.

Insulted at work

The second term with which lawyers associate the word “insult” is the term “dignity”, namely one’s own self-esteem, assessment of one’s internal qualities, morality and the whole set of positive character traits, etc. Honor and dignity are also interconnected as a picture of attitude towards a person in society and personal attitude towards oneself

Insulting these qualities is a serious violation that can lead to loss of respect and reputation in society. Therefore, if at work there are constant offensive nagging, such as: “you don’t know how to do anything, you can’t be trusted with anything, you’re stupid,” etc., then this is already a reason for .Important: in order to establish an insult, it is necessary to make sure precisely and in front of witnesses that the honor and dignity of a particular person has been humiliated, and that the usual “abuse in a public place” is not taking place.

Civil liability for harassment at work

To protect the honor and dignity of a person in jurisprudence, the Civil and Criminal Codes are used, according to which personal dignity and honor belong to the class of personal intangible property of each person that characterizes him.

These concepts are not measured in monetary terms, but if there was an insult that caused moral damage to a person, then this damage is compensated by paying money to the injured person by court decision.

This right is confirmed by Article 152 of the Civil Code, according to which the plaintiff may demand compensation for moral damage if the defamatory information is unproven and is a deliberate lie.

If the plaintiff brings a claim for insult, then the investigative authorities collect the evidence necessary for the investigation, as in the case of charges of libel, the punishment for which involves criminal liability:

• the very fact of insult;
• the composition of the insult and the defamatory factor;
• correspondence or non-compliance with reality.

If at least one point in the charge is missing during the trial, the court will decide to refuse compensation for moral damage. When going to court, a state fee of 150 rubles must be paid.

Responsibility

Insult is a type of violation to which a legal framework applies that does not have specific rules and regulations.

Often in court they refuse material compensation, citing the actual absence of insult as such, a double interpretation, etc. In this case, the plaintiff’s statements about moral suffering are not perceived as de facto reliable.

What is an insult according to the law?

Before complaining about the dissolute behavior of a co-worker, you need to know what exactly you were insulted - this is the first thing, and also what you want to achieve and what are your chances of restoring justice - secondly. The fact is that this issue, even though it is reflected in the current code, is very subjective and not fully covered.

According to the norms of administrative legislation (Article 5.61 of the Administrative Code), this term means public humiliation of honor and human dignity expressed in an indecent form.

But the fact is that different people have different approaches to this. For example, a boss, having learned about, to put it mildly, unqualified behavior of his subordinate, told him what he thought and called his actions stupid.

Is this an insult or just getting personal? After all, the boss did not use any taboo words. And if after that you began to argue with him, then his words correspond to the truth, because in this case it is you who demonstrate incorrect behavior.

It’s another matter if you heard swear words or swear words addressed to you.

The use of obscene, obscene, abusive language can definitely be considered an insult. The purpose of such an act is to humiliate a person, undermine his reputation, mock him, and cause moral damage to him.

Legal advice

What to do? Should I respond in kind? Pretend that nothing special happened?

Could be so. Or you can teach the offender a lesson so that next time he will think a hundred times before deciding to make another attack against you. What needs to be done for this? Just go to court with a statement. Of course, litigation involves certain time, moral and, possibly, financial costs.

And only you can decide whether you want to punish the boor and rude person according to the law or whether you will silently endure his further antics. Honor is a person’s adherence to all the rules of moral and professional duty.

Rudeness of subordinates - reasons

• He gains self-affirmation, subconsciously understands that he has not achieved self-realization in life, and by nature he is very ambitious;
• He likes public attention, but is unable to get it any other way;
• He receives respect from scum like himself;
• He is simply not overloaded with work;
• He is having fun in this way, he is having fun because he is humiliating the leader . He simply does not have money for normal entertainment, since he has not succeeded in life.
• He does not respect the leader, and the leader did not instill fear in him, due to his insufficient managerial competence or weakness of character.

• He lacks any joy in life, and therefore he is forced to entertain himself in this way, he is bored, he has nothing to occupy himself with;
• He lacks the awareness to direct his energy in the right direction. He is simply lost in life, he does not know why he lives, there is no goal. Life just goes nowhere.
• There is no fear of losing your job;

For example, I had an employee who, until the age of 40, lives with his parents, who receive a pension and still work. Therefore, his instinct of self-preservation has completely atrophied; all the same, his meager salary constitutes an insignificant share of the family budget.

• He does not receive a painful shock, and he does not develop a neural pattern that will block his boorish behavior, as in the example with boiling water.

In childhood, this pattern was also not formed, so it can be formed for you, if, of course, it will be cost-effective, in terms of mental costs and time.

• He does not receive, in any other way, satisfaction from life and its emotional fulfillment. Your importance in society . The meaning of your existence.

Author of the report

Theoretically, any employee of the organization has the right to write a memo. In practice, when presenting it, the principle of subordination is observed. The head of a structural unit writes a report addressed to the general director. Subordinate employees must resolve situations that arise first with their immediate superiors. And if it deems it necessary, it will bring the information to the attention of the management. It is acceptable to apply directly, but then the report must be endorsed by the immediate supervisor.

The exception is the case when the memo is drawn up in connection with a complaint against the head of the structural unit himself. In such cases, any employee can directly appeal to senior management.

List of sources

• sunmag.me
• adm-pravo.ru
• beab.ru
• juridicheskii.ru
• domprava76.ru
• 101million.com