Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace

Bullying and harassment in the workplace can involve groups of people, or in our experience usually between two individuals. It could be apparent or subtle in nature, and/or it may be a constant or a solitary incident. This does not have to be face to face but can also occur in written communications, by phone or via email.

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Bullying and Harassment at Work

It is also open to an employee suffering bullying at work to resign and bring a claim for constructive dismissal, provided that they are an employee and have worked continuously for two years (unless you have also been discriminated against, for example, on the grounds of your age, race, disability or sex).

Thus, employees suffering from bullying at work may, in appropriate circumstances, be able to bring a claim for constructive dismissal or breach of contract against their employers.

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Please note that this information is provided for general knowledge only, and therefore specific advice should be sought for individual cases.

Being bullied and harassed at work is clearly not acceptable and can have a huge impact, not just on your ability to do your job, but also on your private and personal life.

At Lexadeen, we believe that we can act quickly and decisively to help prevent you from further distress and suffering. Our friendly and hard-working solicitors have over 20 years experience in dealing with bullying and harassment cases and are here to help.

There are a number of employment regulations in the UK which provide for employee protection against bullying and harassment in the workplace. Bullying and harassment is behaviour that makes someone feel intimidated or offended.

A person is being bullied if, for instance, they are:

Threatened with violence or loss of their job
Treated unfairly – e.g. not considered for promotion
Constantly humiliated in front of colleagues/clients/customers
Made a scapegoat for the mistakes of others
Given an unfair workload

Employment Law

Harassment is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010 and occurs when an employee suffers unwanted conduct by the employer or their staff which violates the employee’s dignity or creates an “intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment” for them.

If the bullying and/or harassment in the workplace is due to a protected characteristic, such as age, disability, gender or race, it will amount to unlawful discrimination entitling you to bring a claim in an employment tribunal.

Under the Equality Act, employers are responsible for any staff who harass other employees, however, they can escape such liability if they can demonstrate that they took reasonably practicable steps to prevent it from happening.

There is also an implied term in all employment contracts that employers shall provide ‘reasonable support’ to an employee to ensure that the employee can carry out the duties of his or her job without harassment and disruption by fellow workers.

Any claim must be brought to the employment tribunal within 3 months (less one day) of the last discriminatory act, but before this step, you must notify ACAS under their early conciliation process.

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