FIRST.— What is mobbing?

Mobbing is when your boss or a superior systematically makes your work life unbearable, taking advantage of their position of power over you. It’s not just a bad day with your boss. It’s repeated, top-down conduct meant to isolate you, humiliate you, or force you out — conduct that creates an intimidating, degrading, or offensive environment.

If the person harassing you is a coworker at your same level, that’s technically “peer-to-peer harassment” — a different concept, though in practice it’s defended in a very similar way. And if the harassment has a discriminatory cause behind it — your sex, your national origin, your sexual orientation, a disability — there’s an important difference that few people know about.

SECOND.— Not all harassment is protected equally

If the harassment is discriminatory, the law protects you with full guarantees: if you’re dismissed after reporting it, the dismissal is automatically void — reinstatement is mandatory, with full back pay and an additional compensation for the harm caused.

If it’s mobbing or peer-to-peer harassment without that discriminatory cause behind it, general protection is weaker: if you’re dismissed, it will typically be classified as unfair, not void. The company can choose between reinstating you or paying severance.

But there’s an important exception: if you’re dismissed as direct retaliation for reporting the harassment — even when the harassment itself wasn’t discriminatory — the whistleblower protection (garantía de indemnidad) may come into play, and the dismissal could still be declared void. Each case needs to be reviewed to establish that causal link between the complaint and the dismissal.

None of this means mobbing is any less serious — it’s exactly as destructive for whoever experiences it — but the law draws this distinction, and it’s worth knowing before deciding how to approach your case.