After The Voice of Holland scandal more reports of transgressive behavior

Following reports of alleged abuse at The Voice of Holland, confidential advisers received an increasing number of reports of abusive behavior. This is according to an internal survey conducted by the National Association of Shop Stewards (LVV) on behalf of the newspaper AD. More than half of the respondents said they had noticed an increase of transgressive behavior.

Two-thirds of the complaints were filed by employees. In slightly less than half of the cases, a supervisor was the one who displayed the undesirable behavior; in a quarter of the cases, it was a colleague. Furthermore, most of the cases involved harassment (over 56 percent), followed by sexual harassment (11 percent).

Of the 173 LVV members who responded to the survey, 89 percent said awareness of cross-border behavior in the workplace has increased in the past year. For instance, people were more likely to be addressed about transgressive behavior, most confidants said. In addition, some respondents said there is less kissing and cuddling, such as at birthdays or Christmas and New Year's celebrations. People also no longer dare to make "inappropriate jokes."

Alleged abuses behind the scenes of the tv program The Voice of Holland were exposed last January by the program BOOS. Shortly after the publication of the sexual transgressive behavior at the RTL 4 program, 19 women spoke about misconduct by band leader Jeroen Rietbergen, 15 about a director, and two women filed charges against coach Ali B.

However, after a year, the victims are disappointed after the Voice scandal, as they still have to wait for results of the investigaton of the law firm Van Doorne and of the Public Prosecution Office (OM).

“Waiting for clarity is exhausting,” said Sébas Diekstra to AD, the lawyer who assists victims. “It is painful and frustrating that there is now only one case left that is directly related to The Voice.”

This concerns former The Voice contestant Nienke Wijnhoven, who filed sexual misconduct charges twice. The charges were against band leader Jeroen Rietbergen and director Martijn N. However, the charges against the director were dropped in November, causing frustration among the victims.