Harassment
There are three types of harassment which are unlawful
- Harassment related to a protected characteristic
- Sexual harassment, conduct of a sexual nature
- Less favourable treatment of a worker because they submit to, or reject sexual harassment or harassment relating to sex or gender reassignment
Harassment occurs when someone engages in unwanted conduct that:
- violates someone else's dignity
- creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment
- unwanted means unwanted by someone from their perspective; it can be subjective
Harassment related to a protected characteristic includes:
- age
- disability
- gender reassignment
- marital or civil partner status
- pregnancy or maternity
- race (colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin)
- religion or belief
- sex, sexual orientation or identity
It is essential to understand that:
- a single, serious incident may amount to harassment
- a person may experience harassment even if not the intended 'target' of the behaviour in question. For example, racist jokes create an offensive environment. People do not need to belong to an ethnic group for racist jokes to be harassment.
- a person need not possess a relevant protected characteristic themselves. The may experience harassment due to:
- their association with another person who has a protected characteristic
- a perception that they have a protected characteristic, even if that perception is wrong
- a person's conduct might amount to harassment even if there was no intention to offend
- it is also unlawful for an employer to harass a job applicant
- there may be circumstances where conduct that is accepted, at some point ‘oversteps the mark’ and becomes unwanted
Examples of harassment
Harassment may be physical, verbal or non-verbal. Examples of harassment may include but are not limited to:
- unwanted physical contact, ranging from touching to serious sexual or physical assault. Invading someone's personal space may amount to harassment
- verbal conduct, such as:
- sexist, racist, ageist or homophobic comments
- derogatory remarks about an individual or group with a protected characteristic
- offensive slogans, insults or comments of a personal nature
- suggestive remarks and innuendo
- nicknames, inappropriate 'banter', jokes or language
- unwanted non-verbal conduct, including:
- sexually-suggestive behaviour
- physical gestures
- staring and leering
- sexual posts or contact on social media
- other unwanted sexual attention or advances
- unwelcome touching, hugging, massaging or kissing
- the display, storage or circulation of offensive or sexual material. This includes information held on or accessed by computer or through social media and images or written words in the working environment such as graffiti
- conduct that threatens, ridicules, intimidates, abuses, undermines or undervalues an individual. This includes:
- derogatory or degrading remarks or insults
- offensive comments about appearance or dress
- spreading malicious rumours
- open aggression, obscenities, uncontrolled anger
- belittling in front of others, persistent criticism or sarcasm
- suggestions that sexual favours may result in career advancement or another benefit. Or, that refusal of such suggestions may result in some form of detriment
- unfair treatment, which may include deliberately excluding someone from social activities because:
- they have a protected characteristic
- are perceived to have a protected characteristic
- associate with a person who has a protected characteristic