The Lawyer and Professor of the FCJE-UFRO Successfully Represents Health Official in Landmark Labor Protection Lawsuit

The lawyer and professor of the FCJE-UFRO, Nicolás Yáñez Inostroza, together with his colleague Gianinna Tapia Córdova, both members of the team of the Defensur legal firm, represented the affected health official in a lawsuit for labor protection against the Doctor Víctor Assistance Complex Ríos Ruiz of Los Angeles, who won the lawsuit, which resulted in compensation of eight million pesos, public apologies to the affected worker, and costs.

A few weeks ago, the regional press of Biobío highlighted this notable case that establishes an important precedent in the rulings of the Labor Court towards public health officials. The magistrate fully accepted the action by determining that the plaintiff, a surgeon at the Los Angeles healthcare complex, suffered workplace harassment between the years 2020 and 2022.

In this context, the Los Angeles Labor Court ordered the Dr. Víctor Ríos Ruiz Care Complex to pay compensation of $8,000,000 for moral damage. They were also required to send a letter of public apology acknowledging the violation of fundamental rights and committing not to discriminate against workers in the future, a cost order of $750,000 pesos, and also include the health institution in the business registry. harassers of fundamental rights in the Provincial Labor Inspection of Biobío.

Alumni and professor of the FCJE led the cause

Nicolás Yáñez Inostroza, a UFRO graduate and currently a law professor at the Faculty of Legal and Business Sciences, was one of the lawyers who worked on this case and mentions that it was quite difficult, since he had to dedicate many hours of study to it. preparation and above all temperance. “The trial lasted almost a year and I remember that the hospital’s defense was focused on personal attacks on my client and not on a legal defense itself. The incident was so serious that even in the hearings misogynistic comments were made from the other side.”.

For Nicolás, the ruling in this case set an important precedent in terms of protection of labor rights, since the ruling was made visible in different national media such as; Diario Constitucional, Radio Bio Bio, Diario la Tribuna, Las Últimas Noticias, among others. “It is impressive how many officials began to raise their voices and sue for workplace harassment. In fact, to this day, we continue to receive calls and queries about this lawsuit.” he pointed.

It should be noted that the current law professor at the FCJE-UFRO has been working for two years at the Defensur law firm, of which he is the founder and where he has had a very good success rate in this type of trials. “Just to give an example, in the last 5 months we have won 3 protections for violation of fundamental rights, all with public apologies and moral damage included,” he indicates.

Likewise, it specifies that “This case is interesting, considering that it is unusual for a public official to sue at work, and even less common, for him to obtain a good result. The sentence has moral damage, violation of Fundamental Rights due to misogynistic comments and exclusions from shifts; Furthermore, procedurally speaking, there were interesting things such as new evidence, which is not expressly recognized in labor matters, but without prejudice to this, it was considered by the judge at the time of issuing the sentence.”commented the lawyer graduated from the Universidad de la Frontera.

You can learn more details about the ruling in this case HERE

By Carlos Sáez Figueroa

FCJE-UFRO