Court of Cassation: no mobbing if there is negligence

With its judgment No. 2116/2016, the Court of Cassation reiterated that no mobbing shall be deemed to have occurred in the absence of a specific vexatious plan aimed at the gradual personal and professional demolition of the employee in question. The employer must safeguard the physical well-being and moral character of employees. In this sense, case law establishes that in view of the fact that the systematic nature of harassment is a key feature of mobbing, the employee in question not only has to prove the existence of individual episodes of personal persecution, but must also, and above all, demonstrate that such behaviour represents a clear plan designed to isolate and marginalize said employee. Notwithstanding this, the Court of Cassation precludes the employer’s liability in cases where it is the employee who is «uncooperative, negligent and reluctant to follow instructions and orders from his/her superiors, poisoning the office environment». Basically, the employee’s conduct proven before the court to be of a negligent character, exempts the employer from all liability for mobbing.