Not necessarily. An employer's workplace bullying investigation is a labor and administrative process. Criminal proceedings arise only if specific conduct also meets an offense's elements and the required complaint or investigation occurs. Public insult, defamation and ordinary bodily injury are generally complaint-only offenses, with a six-month period after learning the offender's identity. Criminal Code Article 287 excepts ordinary injury committed by a public official while performing official duties.
Two independent procedures
Occupational Safety and Health Act Article 22-1(1) defines workplace bullying as conduct by personnel of the worker's own business entity toward a worker performing duties in the workplace, misusing a work or power relationship, going beyond what is necessary and reasonable for work, and consisting of ongoing offensive, threatening, excluding, isolating, insulting or other improper words or conduct that harms the worker's physical or mental health. A serious incident need not be repeated. The definition establishes employer prevention and response duties; it is not itself a criminal-offense definition.
Accepting complaints, investigating and making decisions are employment-related procedures. Breach of employer duties may lead to administrative fines. Criminal proceedings follow a different path through a victim's complaint to police or prosecutors or a prosecutor's own investigation where allowed. The two processes may run together and reach different conclusions.
Public insult: harsh words alone are insufficient
Criminal Code Article 309 addresses public insult. Constitutional Court Judgment 113-Hsien-Pan-3 upheld the provision within a narrower reading: the court must assess context, whether expression intentionally and publicly disparaged reputation beyond what an ordinary person could reasonably tolerate, and the balance between reputation and freedom of expression.
Severe criticism or emotional language at work does not automatically amount to public insult. Consider the words, setting, people involved and evidence.
Source: Constitutional Court summary of Judgment 113-Hsien-Pan-3 ↗.
Defamation: alleging or repeating reputation-damaging matters
Article 310 concerns alleging or circulating a matter capable of damaging another person's reputation with intent to spread it publicly. Proving truth avoids punishment except for a matter of private morality unrelated to the public interest. Regulations Article 2 also lists intentionally spreading rumors or revealing private information among circumstances to consider in a bullying investigation.
Threats, coercion and injury
Threatening harm to another's life, body, freedom, reputation or property and thereby endangering their safety may fall under Criminal Code Article 305. Using force or threats to make someone do something they have no legal duty to do, or to obstruct a right, may fall under Article 304. Physical injury may implicate Article 277(1). Each offense requires proof of its own elements.
Complaint-only offenses and the six-month period
| Provision | Victim's complaint required? |
|---|---|
| Criminal Code Arts. 309 and 310: public insult and defamation | Yes (Art. 314) |
| Criminal Code Art. 277(1): ordinary bodily injury | Yes, except when a public official commits it while performing official duties (Art. 287) |
| Criminal Code Art. 305: criminal intimidation | No |
| Criminal Code Art. 304: coercion | No |
For a complaint-only offense, Code of Criminal Procedure Article 237 generally requires a complaint within six months after the person entitled to complain learns the offender's identity. By contrast, a workplace bullying complaint to an employer must generally be filed within three years after the conduct ends; where the respondent used a position of power, an additional period of one year after leaving employment applies if longer (Regulations, Art. 8). The starting points and lengths differ.
Sexual harassment or sex- or gender-related stalking may involve separate laws. When a workplace complaint involves sexual harassment, the employer must use the applicable procedures (Regulations, Art. 27).
For respondents: what you say in the investigation
The employer records investigation interviews (Regulations, Art. 16). Statements may later be presented in another process and compared for consistency. Arrange the facts before the interview, distinguish memory from inference and check the record carefully.
If police or prosecutors contact you, a suspect may choose defense counsel. Counsel may attend questioning and state an opinion under Code of Criminal Procedure Article 245, subject to statutory restrictions.
What to take away
Criminal liability turns on conduct and evidence, not the label “bullying.” The new workplace rules took effect July 1, 2026 and practical interpretation continues to develop. This is general information, not advice for an individual case.