Gender Equality in Employment: The Impact of the New Labor Inspection Protocol in Honduras

Valerya Theodoracopoulos, a lawyer in Honduras expert in Labor Law, shares with us this article on how the country has taken a step towards reducing the gender inequality gap in the workplace by approving and implementing the new Labor Inspection Protocol, specifically focused on gender discrimination in employment and occupation. This agreement, approved by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (SETRASS), aims to reduce discrimination, harassment, and the gender pay gap.

Honduras has taken a step forward to reduce the gender inequality gap in the workplace with the approval and implementation of the new labor inspection protocol whose specific focus is on gender discrimination in employment and occupation through AGREEMENT No. SETRASS-160-2024. According to a report published by the Statista Research Department on June 7, 2024, Honduras closed in 2023 as the third country with the lowest wage gap in Latin America and the Caribbean, only behind Barbados, which leads the list, and Costa Rica, and it is thanks to initiatives like this, Honduras has been able to work on reducing this wage gap in recent years. The Agreement approved by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (SETRASS) aims to reduce the gender pay gap and reduce discrimination and harassment in employment and occupation. The main objective of this new labor inspection protocol is to be able to verify that labor standards regarding gender are followed in the workplaces, with the support of documents, interviews, other evidence and minutes in the workplaces. Within the Agreement that approves this new inspection protocol, there is the "Evaluation Guide for the detection of mistreatment and other forms of discrimination in employment and occupation.” This guide includes the guidelines that a Labor Inspector must consider, at the time of carrying out the inspection, to determine the existence or not of mistreatment or other forms of discrimination.

It is important for employers that this guide has been published in the Agreement, since this provides them with clear and detailed steps that an inspector will follow when carrying out the inspection, material that the same employers can use prior to an inspection, as a self-evaluation mechanism and in this way determine prior to an inspection the existence or not of mistreatment in employment and thus be able to correct this type of situation. The guide's application is the first step that SETRASS will use to determine if there are signs of mistreatment or discriminatory acts prior to carrying out an inspection at the workplace. Note that the Agreement speaks of signs, in plural, therefore, there must be more than one sign that there is mistreatment or discriminatory acts in order to proceed with an inspection.

The approved procedure recognizes 3 types of inspections that can be carried out in workplaces: ordinary, extraordinary and technical advisory. The ordinary inspection seeks to keep the name of the person who made the complaint confidential and will be carried out when it is a case of mistreatment or other forms of gender discrimination, which affect a group of workers within the workplace. The extraordinary inspection is carried out when it is a case of mistreatment or other forms of gender discrimination, which affect the worker who made the complaint. And finally, we find the technical advisory inspection, which is carried out when the employer or complainant, or through an inspection program, requests verification that the workplace does not have violations of the principle of non-discrimination in employment and occupation, and the General Directorate of Labor Inspection urges its correction.

Although the Agreement does not introduce new legislation, since it establishes the laws that are used as a regulatory framework, it does specifically define abusive behaviors and discriminatory behaviors that were not previously defined as such in the law. Although there were provisions in the law under which abuse or discrimination could be prosecuted, only now have they been given a definition, which helps to prosecute each of these behaviors under the affected legislation.

Within this Agreement we find the introduction of the term Horizontal Workplace Harassment, behaviors that, as I mentioned previously, could be sanctioned under current Honduran legislation; however, the introduction of the definitions of both concepts makes these behaviors easier to identify, therefore, easier to correct and sanction. Prior to the implementation of this Agreement, Workplace Harassment was defined only in the Penal Code and only reference is made to Vertical Workplace Harassment, not to Horizontal Workplace Harassment.

The introduction of the concept of Horizontal Workplace Harassment, which is defined as the verbal or psychological action of a systematic, repeated or persistent nature by which a co-worker in the workplace or in connection with work, a person or a group of people hurts another co-worker, humiliates, offends or intimidates them, is one of the main novelties of the Agreement. Although this conduct could be punished under the provisions of the Honduran Labor Code, the fact that we now have a concrete definition of the conduct will facilitate the process of identifying and subsequently sanctioning this type of conduct, both for employers, who are primarily responsible for identifying this type of conduct, and for SETRASS inspectors and judges of the different Labor Courts throughout the national territory.

Another novelty of this Agreement is the recognition of the existence of labor discrimination from the moment of recruitment and not only as a consequence of the employment relationship. In Honduras, 3 elements must coexist for the perfection of the employment relationship. These 3 elements are the activity carried out by the employer, remuneration for the service provided, and the continued subordination or dependence of the worker on the employer. Within the annexes presented by the Agreement as part of the process of identifying mistreatment and other forms of discrimination in employment, there are assessments of potentially discriminatory conduct in job and profile planning processes as well as in employment admission processes, opening the door to the identification of occupational gender segregation by companies.

Labor discrimination can occur in different ways. Within the new protocol to be implemented by SETRASS, specific mention is made of discrimination against women, discrimination based on race, class and any other discrimination harmful to human dignity, discrimination due to the wage gap, discrimination in promotions, discrimination in permits and licenses and discrimination in training, providing tools to those who have to identify discriminatory behavior so that they can address it in the best possible way and not only as labor discrimination in a general way. This makes obtaining evidence that there is a behavior easier for the victim.

In short, the implementation of this new labor inspection protocol brings with it a unification of criteria regarding very serious behavior that can occur within companies. It is important that inspectors from the Ministry of Labor and companies are clear about the behaviors that cause harassment or discrimination at work or in the workplace, both for their identification and sanction, but also so that preventive protocols can be implemented within companies to avoid this type of behavior or sanction employers who are aware of this behavior and do not correct it according to the Labor Inspection Law. This protocol should be a positive starting point to further reduce the wage gap, harassment (both vertical and horizontal) and discrimination in employment and in the workplace.




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