Bullying and harassment

Bullying and harassment in the workplace are serious matters. All individuals have the right to be treated with dignity and respect, and work in an environment that is free from unlawful discrimination or degrading treatment. It is an employer’s responsibility to take reasonable steps to prevent such behavior taking place and to have policies and procedures in place for dealing with the bullying and harassment of staff.

The terms ‘bullying’ and ‘harassment’ are often used interchangeably and it is not uncommon for bullying to be considered a form of harassment. However, in law they are two very different points.

The Equality Act 2010 defines harassment as: “Unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, and the conduct has the purpose or effect of… violating an individual’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for an individual.”

The Act makes it unlawful to harass somebody based on a protected characteristic, ie sex, gender reassignment, race, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation and age. Harassment of a sexual nature is also unlawful.

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