Until now, the law did not require employers to conduct an internal investigation following a report. That could change: On October 13, 2026, the National Assembly passed the so-called \u201ccomprehensive\u201d bill against gender-based and sexual violence on first reading, with no votes against it. The bill establishes a legal obligation to investigate, a regulated procedure, and penalties.<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udd0e What types of reports?<\/strong> \ud83c\udfe2 Which employers?<\/strong> \u26a0\ufe0f What are the risks in the event of a violation?<\/strong> \u2795 The bill also provides for lowering the threshold for mandatory appointment of a harassment liaison officer from 250 to 50 employees and for establishing 10 days of leave for employees who are victims of harassment.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udca1 How can you prepare?<\/strong> \ud83d\udccc The bill still needs to be reviewed by the Senate and may change. The challenge isn\u2019t just having a written procedure\u2014it\u2019s knowing how to implement it as soon as the next report comes in.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Until now, the law did not require employers to conduct an internal investigation following a report. That could change: On October 13, 2026, the National Assembly passed the so-called \u201ccomprehensive\u201d bill against gender-based and sexual violence on first reading, with no votes against it. The bill establishes a legal obligation to investigate, a regulated procedure, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[62,76],"class_list":["post-10867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-flash-news-2","tag-johann-sultan-en","tag-social-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lerins.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lerins.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lerins.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lerins.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lerins.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10867"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lerins.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10871,"href":"https:\/\/lerins.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10867\/revisions\/10871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lerins.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lerins.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lerins.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lerins.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIncidents occurring in the workplace that may constitute sexual assault, sexual harassment, or sexist behavior, whether the report comes from the alleged victim or a third party.
\nPsychological harassment is not covered. However, the employer remains obligated to respond to any report as part of its duty to ensure safety, which may warrant an investigation depending on the circumstances.<\/p>\n
\nAll employers, regardless of size: from a very small business with five employees to a large corporation.
\n\ud83d\udccb What the employer must do<\/strong>
\n\u2192 Inform the employee in writing of their rights and avenues for recourse, and keep a record of the report
\n\u2192 Launch an investigation without delay. If the report comes from a third party, first interview the alleged victim to gather their account of events and obtain their consent
\n\u2192 Take precautionary measures to prevent any contact between the alleged victim, witnesses, and the accused
\n\u2192 Interview the alleged victim, then the witnesses, then the accused; each party may review their statements before signing them
\n\u2192 Prepare a report within a reasonable timeframe, communicate its findings to both parties while maintaining confidentiality, and retain the report
\n\u2192 Protect those involved from any retaliatory measures<\/p>\n
\n\u2192 An administrative penalty capped at 1% of the compensation paid in the previous year;
\n\u2192 The person who filed the report may refer the matter to the labor inspectorate if the investigation does not comply with legal requirements or if its conclusions are manifestly insufficient<\/p>\n
\nFor many companies, the challenge will be to conduct the investigation properly from the very first report.
\nThree areas to address right away:
\n\u2022 A written reporting and investigation procedure, coordinated with the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) and the disciplinary process
\n\u2022 designated, trained, and impartial investigators\u2014whether internal or external
\n\u2022 ready-to-use templates: employee notification, preliminary measures, hearing minutes, and final report<\/p>\n