Responsabilidad jurídica de Iguality y de los miembros del equipo

Being realistic, it is simply not possible to always prevent harm from happening in the context that we work. Still, we - obviously - try to do everything that we can to prevent any type of harm from happening, by having adequate policies, training and support to all our team members working with the people we support through our programs.

In almost all cases, if despite our prevention efforts any harm is done by one of our users - to themselves or to others -, Iguality or their team members are not responsible for the behaviour and acts of the individuals we support.

Exceptional legal context: negligence or malpractice

There is one important exception to the above described legal responsibilities of the organisation and their team members: if any harm that has occured by one of our users which can be considered the result of negligence or malpractice by the organisation and/or individual team members, the organisation and/or the individual team member may be held legally accountable.

Examples of negligence or malpractice are:

• A team member not reporting a potential safeguarding concern of a user of Iguality according to our Política de salvaguardia (for instance when a user mentions strong suicidal thoughts);
• The organisation not acting on a reported safeguarding concern of one of our team members (for instance not providing adequate support to a volunteer psychologist who works with a user with suicidal thoughts);
• A team member ignoring signs of self-harm of a user and not reporting on them (for instance when a user has cuts on their arms that are clearly the result of self-harm);
• The organisation not clearly communicating our policies and protocols to our team members and users (for instance not publicly and clearly sharing this policy);
• A team member not reporting any signs of abuse done to one of our users or done by one of our users to others (for instance a user clearly states they have done harm to their partner in the domestic context);

However, unless the negligence or malpractice has clearly been proven already, Iguality has appropriate insurance to prove the contrary and support our organisation and/or team members with any legal dispute (see next section).

Preventing negligence and/or malpractice

As individual team member, you can prevent any accusation of negligence or malpractice by strictly following the policies and protocols of Iguality. This includes (but may entail more depending on your role in Iguality):

• Reading, understanding and knowing our Política de salvaguardia to know how to act in potential dangerous or harmful situations;
• Following adequate and provided reporting protocols (for instance, registering every session a volunteer psychologist does with our users);
• Always report any concern you may have to Iguality's management or Safeguarding contacts. If you doubt, rather consult than wait.
• Being fully aware of all our other policies that you can find in our Handbook. 

Legal support related to (self-)harm disputes

If for some reason any user or external individual would accuse Iguality or one of our team members of causing any harm happening, Iguality has appropriate insurance to cover any legal costs for such specific cases.

Iguality will also always fully support our team members with any legal disputes they may face through their work with Iguality, unless clear negligence or malpractice has been proven already. Our Safeguarding Committee will always be involved in these situations to provide an objective and professional vision on each specific case.