The Internal Accident Prevention Committees (CIPA) have gained new responsibilities and even a new name. They are now called Internal Accident Prevention and Harassment Committees.

This is because, since March 20, companies required by law to have such committees must also – among other things – define rules of conduct to prevent harassment and violence, create a channel for receiving and monitoring complaints, and establish sanctions for those responsible.

To understand this scenario, TV Diário, an affiliate of TV Globo, interviewed Rafael Mello, partner at Mazzuco&Mello Sociedade de Advogados.

“Brazilian legislation has a legal framework for both moral harassment and sexual harassment,” says Mello. “There is also the National Policy for Social and Environmental Responsibility of the Labor Court, an initiative by civil society in conjunction with the National Council of Justice and the Superior Labor Court, which served as a first step towards making this new proposal for the CIPAs possible.”

Mello, during the report, also distinguished moral harassment from sexual harassment. “The first refers to any type of abuse, humiliating situation and public or private embarrassment. It can be individualized or systemic,” he says. “The second implies, for example, some inappropriate touching, a comment with a sexual tone or even an intimate environment in which the employee feels afraid of not giving in to some type of advance.”

The full report is available at https://globoplay.globo.com/v/11493715/