The case concerns an employee that resigned with immediate effect claiming, in her termination letter, that she had been the victim of several acts of sexual harassment by the company’s managing director.

The employee applied to the Labour Court to ask for damages for non-material harm, in addition to procedural compensation, stating that the employer did not take the necessary measures to stop the sexual harassment.

The Labour Court dismissed the claims, and the employee appealed the decision. 

The Court of Appeal confirmed that the employer was not in a position to act in a useful and effective manner in response to the alleged harassment, as the employee admitted that she had not reported the acts to the employer while she was employed.

As a result, the Court of Appeal confirmed the Labour Court ruling, according to the well-established orientation that an employer's obligations of protection are only triggered by an employee's complaint of sexual harassment, which must be sufficiently precise to enable the employer to act usefully and take appropriate measures immediately to stop the sexual harassment (see Court of Appeal, 1 July 2020, No. 2020-00781).

It is important to remember that in the event of a complaint, the employer informed of a case of sexual harassment must carry out an internal investigation, hearing from both the alleged victim and the alleged harasser.

Under Article L. 245-1 of the Luxembourg Labour Code, an organisation has legal obligations to prevent its employees from sexual harassment, and employers have three main obligations: 

- to take all necessary preventive measures to ensure the protection of all individuals’ dignity in the context of labour relations

- to refrain from any sexual harassment in the course of employment relations

- to ensure that any sexual harassment the employer is aware of ceases immediately.

Employers must implement a harassment reporting procedure for reporting incidents and act to stop and prevent them.