Code of Best Conduct

CODE OF BEST CONDUCT FOR PREVENTING AND COMBATING HARASSMENT IN THE WORKPLACE
PREAMBLE
Law 73/2017 of 16th August reinforced the legislative framework for the prevention of harassment practice, proceeding, among other changes, the twelfth amendment to the Labour Code.
Such a change requires the private employer, with seven or more employees, to adopt a code of good conduct for prevention of harassment at work.
In compliance with this legal obligation, QSP – Marketing Management & Research, Lda. hereby adopts the present CODE OF BEST CONDUCT FOR PREVENTING AND COMBATING HARASSMENT IN THE WORKPLACE, with the purpose of preventing, combating and eliminating conduits that may be susceptible to constitute harassment at work, and is intended to be a guiding base for all those working in QSP – Marketing Management & Research, Lda., regardless of the form of your bond.
The present Code of Good Conduct, hereinafter referred to as “Code”, must be brought to the attention of all employees of QSP – Marketing Management & Research, Lda.
Article 1
1. The present Code applies to all those who work in QSP – Marketing Management & Research, Lda., whether through a work contract, an internship contract, a service agreement, or any other bond.
2. The present Code is a complemental instrument in relation to the legal and conventional rules in force on this matter.
Article 2
1. Harassment practice is strictly prohibited.
2. Harassment is understood to be all repetitive and undesirable behaviour, namely discrimination-based behaviour, practiced at the time of access to employment or at the employment itself, work or professional formation, with the purpose or effect of disrupting or embarrassing the person, affecting his or her dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or destabilizing environment.
3. Does not constitute harassment:
The pontual labour conflict;
The legitimate decisions arising from the work organization, provided that they conform to the employment contract;
Occasional aggressions, whether physical or verbal (which may constitute a crime, do not reflect situations of harassment because they are not repetitive);
The legitimate exercise of hierarchical and disciplinary power (eg: performance appraisal, instauration of disciplinary proceedings, etc.);
4. Sexual harassment means repetitive and unwanted sexual behaviour, whether verbal, non-verbal or physical, for the purpose or effect listed in the number 2 of the present article;
5. Does not constitute sexual harassment:
The existence of a romantic relationship between colleagues or involving hierarchical superiors, freely reciprocal or that is not undesired and repulsed;
Casual compliments.
Article 3
Any behaviour that could constitute harassment in the workplace in any of its forms, under the terms of the previous article and article 29 of the Labour Code, is absolutely inadmissible, be it to colleagues, hierarchical superiors, clients, suppliers, partners or any other persons with whom they interact under the employment contract, whether inside or outside the workplace, and there is no tolerance for such conduct by QSP – Marketing Management & Research, Lda.
Article 4
1. The employee who is a victim of conduct considered as harassment at work, or any other employee who is a witness, shall notify the person indicated by the company for that purpose, refraining from commenting on the behaviour with anyone other than the one indicated.
2. The existence of behaviours that can consubstantiate the practice of harassment at work, obligatorily, imposes the instauration of disciplinary proceedings on the alleged offender, regardless of the penal responsibility that may exist.
3. The accusation of harassment which is intentionally false or abusive shall give rise to the opening of disciplinary proceedings and, where appropriate, to the realization of a criminal participation, if evidence of the practice of crimes of a calumnious nature or discrimination is collected.
4. Confidentiality, impartiality, efficiency and speed will always be guaranteed in all internal procedures related to harassment at work, and all persons involved in them must guide their actions by equal criteria of confidentiality and impartiality, being obliged not to divulge, for any means, and to any person, of information to which he had access in the scope of said procedures.
Article 5
QSP – Marketing Management & Research, Lda. will implement concrete actions, with a view to identifying risk factors for the occurrence of behaviours that could consubstantiate harassment at work, which may involve regular consultations with employees, that guarantee their anonymity, or any others that are considered pertinent to the necessary evaluation.
Article 6
The present Code will be disclosed through its posting at company’s headquarters, as well as the disclosure on the institutional site, coming into effect on the date of said disclosure.
Approved, in Porto, on May 20th, 2018
The Management