The GSD has said that today’s judgment of the Court of Appeal - and the previous decision of the Supreme Court – “completely vindicates” the stance adopted by the GSD in Opposition at the time that the Bullying at Work legislation was debated in Parliament.

A statement continued: “The GSD was and continues to be fully committed to stamping out the vile behaviour that bullying in the workplace (or anywhere else for that matter) represents. Behaviour of this sort cannot and should not ever be tolerated in any circumstances. The GSD, however, felt compelled at the time to abstain in the Parliamentary vote because of its serious concerns with regard to the quality of the legislation. These were fully explained at the time.

“The Court of Appeal has now made clear that it did not consider the Act “easy to interpret or apply” and made criticisms of its lack of clarity - raising fundamental questions as to the definition of and what amounts to unlawful bullying.

“The Court’s decision provides unequivocal vindication of the GSD’s own criticisms of the Act in 2014. Mr Bossino stated in his contribution at the time of the debate, that there were concerns with the details of the Bill as it stood and expressed the further concern as to whether good law was being introduced for what is “such an important and delicate subject”. Mr Bossino spoke of the danger of employers being at the end of spurious claims as a result of one-off actions. The Bill was, however, vehemently defended by the Chief Minister, who presented it to Parliament and in his usual way, was unwilling to accept any possible criticisms or suggestions for improvement. The Bill was, in the event, passed by Government majority.

“The Court of Appeal Judgment now offers Parliament a perfect opportunity to revisit this poorly drafted Act which the GSD hopes and expects the Government to take advantage of and make the appropriate moves to change so that Gibraltar has a law that is better equipped to deal with bullying at work.”