Three senior TMB officials under investigation for workplace harassment

BarcelonaThree senior officials from Barcelona Metropolitan Transport (TMB) will testify before a judge on February 10, as part of an investigation into a possible case of workplace harassment at the former compliance from the company, which was dismissed in October 2024. As has been reported Eldiario.esThe judge handling the case has charged the CEO, Xavier Flores, the human resources director, and the head of legal services. These statements, made during the preliminary investigation phase, come after several investigations and cross-complaints within the company that manages the bus and metro network in Barcelona.

When he was serving as compliance The complainant, who was in charge of internal investigations, opened a file on an alleged case of workplace harassment against a female employee that involved TMB's top management. In that case, three executives were implicated. According to her account, she received pressure not to proceed with the internal investigation, and management even tried to alter the resolution she had reached. "Have you considered the future of these three executives?" they told her, according to her testimony, to get her to drop the case. "What you should have done is not investigate and refer it to the Public Prosecutor's Office," they warned. TMB considers this account "false," as they maintain the "innocence" of the three accused individuals and "categorically" deny any harassment against the former executive.complianceIn April 2024, TMB informed her of a change in her duties, which took effect two months later. During that time, and after several conversations with her superiors, especially management, she decided to go to the Anti-Fraud Office (OAC), which granted her protected status in May. However, in October of the same year, she was dismissed after a complaint of workplace harassment was filed against her. A few weeks earlier, on September 13, 2024, she was informed by email of the precautionary measures agreed upon by the company, which specified that she be absent from her job so as not to "interfere" with the investigation that had been initiated against her. Subsequently, in October, she was dismissed after an investigation carried out by an external company concluded that there had been "serious" harassment of a worker. This case was referred to the ordinary courts and was dismissed. According to documents accessed by ARA, the complainant maintains that TMB sidelined her and subsequently also filed a complaint against her for harassing a subordinate as retaliation for her internal investigation. At the end of 2024, the Public Prosecutor's Office also dismissed the initial complaint filed by the former...compliance TMB conducted an internal investigation against the three TMB executives. "A case that the company's management took to the Public Prosecutor's Office and which the public prosecutor closed in December 2024. Therefore, there is no causal link between this fact and the dismissal" of the complainant, company sources explain. In this regard, TMB maintains that her change of role came after Flores' first 100 days at the helm of the public company, when he decided to carry out an internal restructuring that affected, among others, the position held by the former executive.complianceIn a 2025 report, the OAC ruled that the dismissal appeared to be retaliation. TMB maintains that, despite knowing the whistleblower's protected status, they were informed of the decision to be made against her.