Bullying and harassment at work concern lawmakers

The recent case of a former employee of a media production company who suicided after having reported long-term bullying at her workplace has prompted lawmakers Leong Hong Sai and José Pereira Coutinho to address the topic at the Legislative Assembly.

Yesterday, before the agenda of the plenary session, the two lawmakers delivered separate spoken inquiries to the government on the same topic, calling for the local authorities to recognize the problem and find solutions to tackle it.

Leong noted that in the past, the discussion on bullying has been typically focused on schools only. However, in reality, “the problem also causes significant harm in the workplace.”

Citing studies and surveys from Hong Kong and Taiwan, Leong said that in Taiwan, according to a survey released last year, “70% of respondents were victims of bullying at work, with 50% deciding to not report the cases.”

In Hong Kong, during 2020 and 2021, surveys of nurses in public hospitals and teachers also showed concerning results. According to the studies, “80% of the nurses interviewed said they had been victims of bullying in the previous six months, but only 13% sought any form of support or advice, while only 20% reported the cases to their supervisor or the union.”

The results for teachers showed similar trends, with about half of those surveyed also claiming to have experienced bullying at work in the previous six months, with many of them reporting that they experienced bullying “almost every day.”

The same lawmaker noted that while in Macau there is no data on workplace bullying, it is likely that due to the difficulties of changing jobs and the need to support themselves and their families, most workers are unlikely to report bullying at work. Over time, this can cause severe psychological trauma, leading to depression, anxiety, social problems and other issues such as physical assault and suicide.

The lawmaker noted that in Macau there is no specific department or service to receive and process workplace bullying complaints. As such, it is unclear where reports or requests for assistance can be made.

The lawmaker exhorted the government to consider the experiences of the neighboring regions as well as other countries to “create a specialized service, or support the development of an independent third party, for example, unions or labor organizations, to provide legal, psychological and even physical support to workers who need it.”

Additionally, he called for clear guidelines and instructions on how to proceed in such cases to increase awareness and prevent bullying at work. Such guidelines are recommended to be applied to both the government and private companies.

On the same topic, Pereira Coutinho said that such cases have been treated by the government and namely by the Labour Affairs Bureau as simple labor relation issues or disagreements. This does not reflect the severity of the problem or provide a solution to put an end to the bullying, harassment and intimidation cases that he said were frequent.

The lawmaker, who is linked with the Civil Servants Association, also said that his office is currently handling two such cases and that his office is having difficulty filing the appropriate complaints with the police authorities.

According to Pereira Coutinho, the victims have complained on several occasions of being subject to long periods of inappropriate verbal and physical conduct. As a result, they felt discomfort, humiliation and embarrassment, and are currently being monitored by psychologists on their own initiative and without any support from the government or their employers.

“The victims wanted to complain, but the official entities are not prepared to accept complaints of this nature because they confuse them with labor relations issues and are not willing to conduct an in-depth investigation. As a result, victims feel abandoned and without recourse to put an end to these acts of violence,” the lawmaker said.

The lawmaker further called on the government to apply, with maximum urgency, the norms approved by the International Labour Organization several years ago concerning violence and harassment in the workplace.

The same lawmaker also called on authorities to collate the existing cases in Macau and compile them into a database on the most common types of workplace bullying in Macau to help with drafting specific measures to address them.