Bullying and Harassment – Fact Sheet
In this we try to clarify the confusion expressed by many clients surrounding bullying
and harassment issues. It is often the case that because organisations nowadays
tend to have a Bullying & Harassment Policy, there can be an assumption that the
policy follows a particular piece of legislation. We hope this fact sheet will clear up
some of the confusion.
- For any employee to bring a claim to the Employment Tribunal there has to be legislation under which to bring the claim.
- The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 was originally written to protect people from intrusion by the paparazzi and can lead to claims in the County Court for a tort (wrong doing) rather than an Employment Tribunal claim. However, the Equality Act 2010 covers harassment when it relates to a ‘protected characteristic’ such as race, sex or age. The Act defines harassment as, unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic that has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or creates an intimidating, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. This could include offensive language and jokes, making belittling or patronising remarks, unwanted physical conduct and, more and more often nowadays, sending offensive materials via email, phones etc. Claims of harassment at work under the Equality Act are made to an Employment Tribunal and, unlike unfair dismissal claims, the claimant does not to have one year’s service or even be an employee; they could be an agency worker.
- Bullying, on the other hand, is not defined by any statute, and there is no legislation that specifically covers bullying. However, an employee who feels that they have been bullied at work, irrespective of whether or not they believe that the bullying relates to a protected characteristic, can resign and claim that the bullying amounts to a breach of their contract and claim constructive dismissal under the unfair dismissal provisions of the Employment Rights Act 1996. To make such a claim the claimant has to be an employee who has over a year’s service and who has resigned in response to the bullying. Although there is no longer a legal requirement to raise a grievance before claiming constructive dismissal, a failure to do so may weaken the claim. Examples of bullying at work include persistent criticisms, shouting at staff or setting an employee up to fail.
- Employers should always investigate and respond to any grievance about bullying or harassment and take action when it is appropriate to do so. An employer’s failure to respond to a grievance can add weight to a claim of harassment or constructive dismissal.
- It is also worthy of note that an employee who suffers any physical or psychiatric
injury as a result of workplace bullying, could bring a claim of negligence and/or a
personal injury claim.
- An employer can resist a claim of harassment under the Equality Act 2010 by showing that they took all reasonable steps to prevent harassment occurring in the workplace. Reasonable steps would include having a well publicised policy on the subject that is communicated to all employees (preferably through training) and being able to demonstrate that they respond to any complaints of harassment promptly and effectively. In such cases, the employer may be able to avoid vicarious liability for the actions of a ‘rogue’ employee who harasses a colleague. It will more difficult for the employer to avoid liability if the perpetrator was a manager.
Further information and guidance on the subject of Bullying and Harassment is available on the ACAS website.
We hope you have found this Fact Sheet helpful. People Vision have Employment
Law specialists who can undertake all kinds of training, risk assessment, policy
writing, mediation and investigative work in connection with any bullying and
harassment issues.
Call us on 0845 4599710 or email info@pvhr.com for more information.
