{"id":1597,"date":"2026-10-09T06:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T04:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/?p=1597"},"modified":"2026-10-09T06:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T04:04:13","slug":"knp-845-55168f23e29e","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/knp-845-55168f23e29e\/","title":{"rendered":"Not every argu\u00adment with col\u00adle\u00adagues con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtes bullying"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ten\u00adsi\u00adons bet\u00adween col\u00adle\u00adagues are part and par\u00adcel of ever\u00ady\u00adday working life. But whe\u00adre does nor\u00admal con\u00adflict end and legal\u00adly rele\u00advant work\u00adplace bul\u00adly\u00ading begin? The Mann\u00adheim Labour Court addres\u00adsed this ques\u00adti\u00adon in a recent jud\u00adge\u00adment dated 11 June 2026 (Case No. 5 Ca 139\/25).<\/p>\n<h2>The facts of the&nbsp;case<\/h2>\n<p>An admi\u00adnis\u00adtra\u00adtor in a human resour\u00adces depart\u00adment found the beha\u00adviour of a direct col\u00adle\u00adague so distres\u00adsing that she took sick lea\u00adve in March 2024. Upon her return, she com\u00adplai\u00adned of anxie\u00adty, fee\u00adlings of exclu\u00adsi\u00adon and phy\u00adsi\u00adcal sym\u00adptoms. Media\u00adti\u00adon pro\u00adpo\u00adsed by her line mana\u00adger fai\u00adled becau\u00adse the col\u00adle\u00adague in ques\u00adti\u00adon refu\u00adsed to take part. Nor did the company\u2019s return-to-work sup\u00adport pro\u00adgram\u00adme yield a solution.<\/p>\n<p>The employee sub\u00adse\u00adquent\u00adly brought a cla\u00adim see\u00adking disci\u00adpli\u00adna\u00adry action against her col\u00adle\u00adague, spe\u00adci\u00adfi\u00adcal\u00adly dis\u00admis\u00adsal, trans\u00adfer or a writ\u00adten war\u00adning. She also clai\u00admed com\u00adpen\u00adsa\u00adti\u00adon under the Gene\u00adral Equal Tre\u00adat\u00adment Act (AGG). The AGG pro\u00adtects employees from dis\u00adcri\u00admi\u00adna\u00adti\u00adon on the grounds of cer\u00adtain cha\u00adrac\u00adte\u00adristics such as eth\u00adnic ori\u00adgin, gen\u00adder or belief.<\/p>\n<h2>The court\u2019s decision<\/h2>\n<p>The Mann\u00adheim Labour Court dis\u00admissed the cla\u00adim. It found that neither dis\u00adcri\u00admi\u00adna\u00adti\u00adon nor bul\u00adly\u00ading had been pro\u00adven. The jud\u00adges empha\u00adsis\u00aded that con\u00adflicts in the work\u00adplace are ine\u00advi\u00adta\u00adble and that not every unp\u00adlea\u00adsant inter\u00adac\u00adtion bet\u00adween col\u00adle\u00adagues can auto\u00adma\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly be clas\u00adsi\u00adfied as bullying.<\/p>\n<p>The court\u2019s reac\u00adtion to one spe\u00adci\u00adfic exam\u00adp\u00adle was par\u00adti\u00adcu\u00adlar\u00adly striking: among\u00adst other things, the clai\u00admant had regard\u00aded her colleague\u2019s fail\u00adure to thank her for bir\u00adth\u00adday wis\u00adhes as bul\u00adly\u00ading. The court expres\u00adsed open asto\u00adnish\u00adment that the dis\u00admis\u00adsal of a col\u00adle\u00adague had been sought on the basis of such a tri\u00advi\u00adal mat\u00adter. It was also made clear that no one is obli\u00adged to think exclu\u00adsi\u00adve\u00adly posi\u00adtively of their col\u00adle\u00adagues or to behave in a fri\u00adend\u00adly man\u00adner towards them in their pri\u00adva\u00adte&nbsp;lives.<\/p>\n<h2>When does it constitute bullying?<\/h2>\n<p>The court also defi\u00adned whe\u00adre the line lies bet\u00adween beha\u00adviour that con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtes legal\u00adly rele\u00advant bul\u00adly\u00ading and other forms of beha\u00adviour. This line is crossed when beha\u00adviour is inten\u00added to, or has the effect of, inf\u00adrin\u00adging upon a person\u2019s digni\u00adty or crea\u00adting a working envi\u00adron\u00adment cha\u00adrac\u00adte\u00adri\u00adsed by inti\u00admi\u00adda\u00adti\u00adon, hosti\u00adli\u00adty or humi\u00adlia\u00adti\u00adon. This is an important bench\u00admark that goes far bey\u00adond mere unfri\u00adend\u00adli\u00adne\u00adss or dif\u00adfe\u00adren\u00adces of opinion.<\/p>\n<p>As neither dis\u00adcri\u00admi\u00adna\u00adti\u00adon nor bul\u00adly\u00ading had been estab\u00adlished, the court held that the employ\u00ader was under no obli\u00adga\u00adti\u00adon to take action against the col\u00adle\u00adague. The court also rejec\u00adted any cla\u00adim for compensation.<\/p>\n<h2>What does this mean for employees and employers?<\/h2>\n<p>For employees, this ruling means that psy\u00adcho\u00adlo\u00adgi\u00adcal stress cau\u00adsed by con\u00adflicts with col\u00adle\u00adagues must be taken serious\u00adly; howe\u00adver, legal claims requi\u00adre a spe\u00adci\u00adfic and demons\u00adtra\u00adble breach. A sub\u00adjec\u00adti\u00adve per\u00adcep\u00adti\u00adon is not sufficient.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Employ\u00aders are not obli\u00adged to take disci\u00adpli\u00adna\u00adry action against employees on the basis of mere allegations.<\/li>\n<li>Sys\u00adte\u00adma\u00adtic humi\u00adlia\u00adti\u00adon, hosti\u00adli\u00adty or inti\u00admi\u00adda\u00adti\u00adon, on the other hand, do inde\u00aded give rise to a duty to&nbsp;act.<\/li>\n<li>Pre\u00adven\u00adta\u00adti\u00adve mea\u00adsu\u00adres such as media\u00adti\u00adon or work\u00adplace inte\u00adgra\u00adti\u00adon sup\u00adport are useful, but can\u00adnot be enforced.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Anyo\u00adne who feels they are being bul\u00adlied at work, or any employ\u00ader faced with such alle\u00adga\u00adti\u00adons, should seek legal advice to cla\u00adri\u00adfy the exact boun\u00adda\u00adries. The distinc\u00adtions are often blur\u00adred in indi\u00advi\u00addu\u00adal&nbsp;cases.<\/p>\n<div id=\"knp-source-attribution\">\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.haufe.de\/recht\/arbeits-sozialrecht\/urteil-konflikte-am-arbeitsplatz-sind-nicht-immer-mobbing_218_699628.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hau\u00adfe:&nbsp;Law<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"knp-ai-disclosure\">\n<p>This post and the accom\u00adpany\u00ading image were crea\u00adted with the help of AI and have been edi\u00adto\u00adri\u00adal\u00adly reviewed.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Mann\u00adheim Labour Court makes it clear: not every ins\u00adtance of ten\u00adsi\u00adon bet\u00adween col\u00adle\u00adagues con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtes work\u00adplace bul\u00adly\u00ading. What counts in legal terms and whe\u00adre the line is&nbsp;drawn.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[82,215,211,361,360,210],"class_list":["post-1597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arbeitsrecht","tag-agg","tag-arbeitnehmerrechte","tag-arbeitsgericht-mannheim","tag-arbeitsplatzkonflikte","tag-fuersorgepflicht-arbeitgeber","tag-mobbing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}