Harassment claims by women: admissibility must be reviewed with a gender lens
Labor proceedings. Their availability must be assessed with a gender perspective when a female worker sues to stop workplace harassment (mobbing).
Official heading (Spanish): VÍA LABORAL. SU PROCEDENCIA DEBE ANALIZARSE CON PERSPECTIVA DE GÉNERO CUANDO UNA TRABAJADORA DEMANDA EL CESE DE HOSTIGAMIENTO LABORAL (MOBBING).
The ruling
A worker sued IMSS and several officials to stop workplace harassment; the labor authority dismissed the complaint because the action is not expressly provided by law. The Collegiate Circuit Court held that when a woman sues to stop harassment, the availability of labor proceedings must be assessed with a gender perspective and heightened due diligence, avoiding formalism that perpetuates structural violence in the workplace.
Our take
The same court had already accepted labor proceedings as the route to stop harassment; here it raises the bar when the claimant is a woman. The court cannot reject the complaint on formal grounds; it must look at the context and facilitate access. In practice, these complaints will rarely be dismissed at the outset. For employers, the defense moves to the merits and the evidence. We recommend that internal investigations apply a gender lens, be run by trained people and be fully recorded, because that file will be the main evidence that the company acted diligently.
What to do
- Assign harassment investigations to people trained in applying a gender perspective.
- Document each stage of the internal investigation, protective measures and the final decision.
- Do not rely on an inadmissibility defense; prepare the merits defense from the start.
Details
- Court
- Collegiate Circuit Court
- Type
- Isolated precedent
- Identifier
- XVII.1o.C.T.2 L (12a.)
- Digital registry
- 2032687
- Published
- September 25, 2026
- Area
- Labor and social security
- View official source ↗
Does this ruling affect your company? Let’s talk.
Schedule a conversationOther precedents in the same area
Prepared by Artegia for information only; not legal advice. Headings in English are unofficial translations. The official text is the one published in the Semanario Judicial de la Federación or the TFJA journal.