“Because knowledge is power. » By appropriating this famous aphorism, Elise Fabing summarizes the reasons that led her to write her Workplace Harassment Manual (Hachette Pratique, 2021): popularizing labor law, to support suffering employees.
A specialist in harassment (moral, sexual) and discrimination at work, this lawyer has notably provided video advice on the Instagram accounts “Balance ta start-up” and “Balance ton agency”, which since 2020 have revealed systemic harassment in several companies. The result is a clear finding: the majority of employees who questioned her did not know how to defend themselves, because access to the law remains too complex.
In the preamble, the manual therefore takes the time to define this very broad category of social law and to insist on the role of evidence (notably written), which is essential to have the facts of harassment recognized. It is enriched by regular insights from specialists (psychiatrist, HRD, recruitment specialist, etc.).
militant conclusion
Very accessible, this guide addresses the different stages point by point, like a toolbox: from internal procedures to the industrial tribunal trial, including the right people to alert. Its purely practical dimension is further proven by the presence in the appendix of blank models for filing a complaint or an alert letter to the labor inspectorate.
If it is primarily aimed at employees, the lawyer invites managers or HR to do more on prevention and on taking into account the psychosocial risks linked to acts of harassment. She finally denounces, in a conclusion that she assumes militant, the dysfunctions of a justice which tends to discourage the victims from having the nature of the facts suffered recognized.
“Workplace Harassment Manual”, by Elise Fabing. Hachette Pratique, 2021, 240 pages, 17.95 euros.