By Delphine Reuter

”I feel like the ground was taken from under my feet. Maybe you cannot see it from the outside, but inside I’m a broken person; I’m completely destroyed.” Mrs H.’s bright blue eyes do not betray the secret she painfully carries around with her.

She has the typical, carefully-planned career of a successful employee of the financial sector in Luxembourg. At 52, she can speak seven languages and use to her advantage more than twenty years of experience in the banking industry. Self-described as “dynamic and positive”, she keeps herself busy. But she says that since she was a victim of harassment in a slow process that started four years ago, she has lost her will to achieve anything.

In 2007, Mrs H. took a promising new position at a bank based in Luxembourg. A hostile situation with a colleague progressively degenerated until she decided to refer it to her hierarchy. She says that while an expert in mediations came to hear both her and her colleague, the situation did not improve. Less than a year after her arrival, she received what she considers was a really bad work evaluation. “It was an aggressive and degrading judgment of the quality of my work. It made me feel worthless.”

Feeling more and more isolated from her colleagues with whom she barely shared daily tasks, she was transferred for a month to another service below her pay grade – archives. “My colleagues were asking what I was doing there. I didn’t even know myself. I was alone, surrounded by empty desks.” She says that at the time she only thought about her salary and her 17-year-old son. But a doctor appointment changed everything.

At the end of November 2008, Mrs H. started seeing a psychotherapist on her doctor’s advice. “She had been shocked to see the state I was in.” The doctor diagnosed a burn-out and told her to stop working to prevent the situation from worsening. “I cried, I knew she had nailed it. I knew I was experiencing violence at work, but nobody seemed to be able to help me.” The following January, she finally followed her therapist’s advice and went on sick leave.

She says the relationship with her hierarchy became tenser after she came back. “I felt more isolated than ever.” In July 2009, she left the bank for another three months, trying to pull herself back together. The following October, aware of her fragility, she contacted the Human Resources department to find a position more suitable to her qualifications. “I still hadn’t let go of the idea that I could succeed in my work.” She said there was no clear indication as to what her objectives or deadlines were. “I didn’t even know when I could take days off.” She said she continued seeing her therapist while her moves at the bank were being watched more closely. “I had to show certificates on the same day of my appointments.” She said she saw a colleague of hers victim of the same lack of privacy. “She didn’t have the energy or the strength to fight back. During her sick leave they accused her of not having sent a certificate, and she was fired on the spot.”

Mrs H. finally left the bank in 2009 and found a lawyer. Today she wants the bank to recognise the harassment they caused partly because of their lack of reaction. “Why did I stay? Had I left my job, it could have taken months before I found another position. I wanted it to work. I contacted everyone I could at the bank to make it work.”

No definition, no problem?

In Luxembourg there exists no law prohibiting harassment in the private sector. The only official record of concern from the private sector was a collective labour agreement signed between the trade unions and the employers’ association (UEL) in June 2009. In December 2009, this convention was declared a general obligation via Grand-ducal rule. But, although a special commission investigates harassment cases in the public sector since 2008, putting a framework preventing harassment at work is still a voluntary move for Luxembourg-based financial institutions. Only a handful seem to have bothered with precautionary measures.

In 2010, a survey led by Astrid Martinez, a French graduate student in psychology on behalf of the Association pour la Santé au travail du Secteur Financier (ASTF), showed how little Human Resources departments are prepared for the situations involving harassment at work. Out of the 130 companies that replied to her survey, 28 percent said they had never heard of the 2009 convention.

Seventy-eight percent said they had not put in place a preventive plan against harassment. Seventy-three percent said they would be ready to start to work on their internal rules in order to prevent these issues, while about a quarter said they would not. Only two companies at the time said they had known a case of psychological violence. From the answers she gathered, Ms Martinez concluded that “not many companies seem to be actively looking for solutions”.

Only four companies asked the ASTF to organise stress management workshops in 2010: European Fund Administration; the law firm Wildgen, Partners in Law; Nordea Bank; and State Street Luxembourg. Others may have included such a workshop in general employee health training. Today, companies seem to prefer to promote their employees’ well-being through physical exercise and a healthy diet.

Anyone can be a victim

Ms S. was really happy during the first month of her internship. But at the end of August 2008, she found out that her boss’s idea of an intern was to spend some worktime in the bedroom. She said that her refusal sparked a vengeful response from her manager who quickly started using all instruments he could to destroy her work, and ultimately, her.

He would prevent her from eating lunch and tell her to continue working on “files he had kept in his drawer for months and suddenly urgently needed to close”. She said she was “yelled at” when her colleagues were not around. “He would criticise the quality of my work or the way I dressed. I was always on the lookout for his shouts. I lost 5 kg in one month. My family and friends did not recognise me anymore.” She said she smiled so her colleagues would not ask questions. “Had they come forward and asked how I was, I would have collapsed into tears. Every day I went to work crying and I came home the same.” She said she often had to look for work inside the bank. “Eight-hour days can be very long when you have nothing at all to do”, she said. “It was a good strategy he had found there”.

After five months of hostility, she grabbed an opportunity to write to the top manager, who agreed to transfer her to another service within the bank. There, her new boss gave her some time to adapt. “She saw I was making mistakes. I had lost confidence. I did not know how to properly write an email, how to write a date on a letter. I was always afraid to do something wrong and being yelled at. I had to learn to work again.”

All experts agree that anyone can become a victim. “There is no specific type of victim, although there are risk factors like the general context of “fragilisation” of the financial sector,” said Dr Bollendorf, director of the ASTF and doctor. He added that harassment is not a modern phenomenon, contrarily to what could be believed. “The risk of being a victim may have risen, but not the abuse itself.” There are no statistics on harassment cases in Luxembourg. “It is not considered as a disease” and therefore no data can be compiled, explained Dr Bollendorf. The Mobbing asbl, an association financed by the Ministry of Labour since 2003, offered 2,134 psychological consultations between 2005 and 2010.

“We have seen a surge of demands after mergers,” said Patrice Marchal a sociologist trained in family therapy, social work and coaching who has worked with the ASTF for more than ten years. “These demands can be very diverse with only a fraction harassment-related.” But some of these cases can actually start a long process that lasts for years. “It has a ripple effect,” he said. During this period which can be really stressful, people are more prone to being victims of harassment. “People can resist to this kind of context but it’s like a stretched elastic band; it cannot stretch forever. People can endure stress until it creates a breaking point and a loss of balance in their professional, even personal life.”

Claude Bollendorf said that his patients usually know about harassment, but do not understand they are being victims and often even believe they are responsible for the situation. He said people above 50 can be more at risk. “The financial sector has an active population with workers’ average age being 32-34.” People above 50 “climbed up the ladder slowly but surely and are now in a world they do not necessarily understand. They do not feel as well-prepared as their younger colleagues to use technology or to readapt to new procedures. They may feel alienated.”

While the financial sector is not as risky as the education sector, the financial and economic crises have put pressure on Human Resources departments, like elsewhere, to yield results. Whether it takes place in small companies, where the management and HR are very close, or big companies, where the management is directly involved in the recruitment and training strategy, harassment can more easily take root when there are no rules defining how it can be prevented or addressed.

Christiane Deckenbrunnen, HR manager Shared Service Centre at BGL BNP Paribas, said a convention was signed in 2005 between BGL’s management and the trade unions, which was extended to BNP Paribas employees after the merger in 2010. “We did not put it in place because we had harassment cases, but because we were pioneers”, she said, agreeing that not many companies make that choice. “Some cases we thought were psychological abuse were in fact not; rather it was the management style not being adequate.” Still, she acknowledged that “it’s true it’s difficult to define what harassment is about”.

Knowing whom to trust

The lack of clarity in what constitutes harassment makes it hard for victims to know whom to address and what information they need to gather to efficiently protect themselves. Doctor and psychotherapist appointments are usually the first step toward finding a solution as they can start mediation processes. But even doctors reckon their power is often limited in that respect. “Helping patients is hard because you always need to find a solution with their colleagues,” explained Dr Bollendorf. The ASTF is one of the organisations to which harassment victims go or are referred, often by their own doctor or trade unionist.

“The company will, indirectly or directly, have to intervene in the process”, he said. He added that it can be even harder to work with small companies where “colleagues are so close” and “the abuser can be in a high position.”

Some victims may lose patience with mediation processes they deem too long or with mediators they believe they cannot trust. Mr M., who hailed from France 11 years ago and was a victim of harassment at a French banking institution in Luxembourg, said he had at first placed all his hopes in the ASTF after he was fired for gross negligence in February 2011. But then he said the ASTF did not send letters to the HR department of his former employer, nor was there any meeting as promised. “I felt like I had been let down by everyone,” he said. “I could not defend myself.”

Mediators should be trained to listen and help victims find their own path to recovery, according to Patrice Marchal. “I need to establish a relationship made of trust with a clear framework of collaboration,” he said. If such a collaboration already exists between the ASTF and the company, he may reach out to them for help, but he may also choose not to contact them depending on the victim’s preferences. “All personnel representatives are not the same,” he said. “And some information cannot be shared with the employer.”

According to Ms Martinez’s survey, confidentiality is the harassment victims’ highest concern. Claude Bollendorf explained that it may stem from the victim’s fear of being the cause of the problem.

“Harassment victims show the same symptoms as those of war veterans: anxiety, guilt, isolation that can lead to agoraphobia, etc. Isolation is a classic symptom; the victim wants to avoid all social contact. It’s directly linked to guilt. The person goes through doubts: “did I not myself cause this situation?”, or “is it my personality which is at stake?”.” He said these symptoms are close to those of PTSD, post-traumatric stress disorder. “The victims of harassment go through the same episodes over and over again. They fear they can start the process again if they go back to their workplace. Some may avoid work, the building itself, or even the city where they used to work. They are scared of re-living the same experience.”

Mrs H. said she has severe trust issues and can’t see herself going back to work before some time. “I can’t be in an office by myself. I’m scared of being isolated again, of being humiliated. It’s like when you break your leg; it can heal but it will always hurt somewhat. I feel the same way.”

Luxembourg’s minor size: a major issue

The fact that the Grand Duchy’s rather modest size is a driver for rapid growth has been often saluted. But it also may provide for a disastrous environment in the case of harassment victims looking for a second chance. As Astrid Martinez wrote in her survey, “What seems to compel employees to silently suffer from these situations is the financial sector’s specificities: a small geographical location and a small number of companies employing the same profiles. In other words, everybody knows everybody and everything ends up being known: complaining means reducing one’s chance of finding another job.”

Karim Sorel, a lawyer specialised in harassment cases who was instrumental in helping the Minister of Labour approve the 2009 convention, said there is still a lot of work left for the law to favour employees rather than employers in Luxembourg. “My personal opinion is that there is a special economic and political context in Luxembourg where the investors must be protected and the workplace environment made attractive for them”, he said. “Employers here enjoy a working environment where everyone knows everyone and everything is known. In the rare cases where harassment cases were brought to court in Luxembourg, people have been fined between EUR 500 and 5,000, which is ridiculous. Magistrates are kind towards harassment and only deliver small fines.”

According to Monique Breisch from the Mobbing asbl, harassment issues “should be taken much more seriously by politicians and trade unionists. There are still suicide attempts due to harassment at work.”

The court battle: not for everyone

Patrice Marchal said that during his working hours at the ASTF he has met different people with very different needs. While some of them may consider going to court, others prefer a quiet way of solving issues. “I’m asking people to reflect on the complaint process; it means giving their problem a public sphere, with professionals opening an investigation, finding witnesses, etc. It requires people outside the situation to become involved. It can create conflicts and worsen the problem.”

But companies may sometimes use this climate of fear to their advantage. When Ms S. left the bank for another job two weeks before the end of her temporary contract, she had to break her contract. That’s when the HR department stepped in with a peculiar condition – an agreement she would sign never attack the bank on any ground. “If I had not needed to leave two weeks before the end of my temporary contract, I would never have signed this clause”, she said.

Mr M. said that he lawyered up but it will be hard to come forward with evidence in court. “They will refute everything I say. It will be hard for me to counter this gross negligence I’m being accused of. It’s not easy to fight a 500-people monster. It’s kind of scary.” He said he cannot access his emails anymore or ask his former colleagues to gather evidence on his behalf.

“Without proof you cannot do anything,” said Karim Sorel. “Contrarily to what is being done in France, in the Grand Duchy, there is no law to lighten up the burden of proof. It needs to be brought forward by the employee.” He said that while the magistrates’ hesitancy to fine employers has no dissuasive effect, a specific law “defining harassment, facilitating its recognition, easing the burden of proof and making harassment a crime” would be the solution.

Dr Carlo Steffes, Head of the Health at Work division at the Ministry of Health, has been closely following the legal debate around harassment and is himself treating victims of abuse. He said the Ministry of Labour should come forward with a new proposal. “A law carries a lot of weight,” he said. “Having a law would be an advantage especially since the jurisprudence is not really favourable.”

“The problem is that harassment needs to be recognised as it is,” said Karim Sorel. “There is no reason for harassment not to take place in Luxembourg; problems like these do not stop at countries’ borders. In the general context of the financial crisis, a law would find its essence in these moments when profitability becomes the main goal. That’s when harassment takes roots.”

For Mrs H., going to court means getting an opportunity to make an example of her case for other victims. While she said she is not interested in starting a personal vendetta against her former employer, she wants to get her dignity back. And she relies on the court to do just that.

In an interview with Finance Luxembourg, the Minister of Labour Nicolas Schmit said he was “favourable for a legislation defining what psychological harassment is”. “We need to fight against harassment and protect victims,” he said. He announced he would come forward with a law proposal in 2012 and that the text of 2003 which was rejected by the governmental commission at the time would be amended with information gathered from neighbouring countries legislation. He said “it was not normal” that the public sector has a legislation prohibiting harassment at work while the private sector does not. “This inequality should be solved”, he said. But he said employers are against such a law and trade unions are “divided” over the issue. About the 25 December 2009 collective labour agreement not being known by the majority of HR departments, he said that trade unions should have made more publicity. He also said it “would probably be useful” to get representatives from the HR departments involved when the law proposal is discussed next year.