Introduction

Workplace issues related to incidents of alleged bullying, harassment and discrimination can be extremely costly in financial and non financial terms, time consuming, complex and pose a risk to the reputation of a business or organisation.

Employers should provide appropriate channels for employees to raise concerns and to effectively deal with issues when they arise. A failure to do so is likely to result in issues escalating, positions becoming entrenched and significant further costs being incurred.

In addition to the clear moral and ethical arguments for providing a healthy and safe working environment there is also a range of relevant legislation and guidance that employers should be aware of.

Whilst there is no specific law in the U.K. concerning ‘bullying’, claims can be raised through a variety of alternative legislative channels. Issues of harassment and discrimination are covered by specific legislation.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 

Under this legislation employers must abide by relevant health and safety and employment law, as well as the common law duty of care. They also have a moral and ethical duty not to cause, or fail to prevent, physical or psychological injury, and must fulfill their responsibilities with regard to personal injury and negligence claims.

Requirements under this duty of care are wide ranging and include protecting employees from bullying, harassment and discrimination, either from colleagues or third parties.

An employer can be deemed to have breached their duty of care by failing to do everything that was reasonable in the circumstances to keep employers safe from harm. Employees also have responsibility for their health and well-being at work.

Vicarious liability

‘Vicarious liability’ is a legal term referring to a scenario where someone is held responsible for the actions or omissions of another person. As regards the workplace, an employer can be held liable for the acts or omissions of its employees, provided it can be shown that they took place in the course of their employment.

It’s also possible to take action against an employer for the behaviour of third parties, such as clients and customers, provided these parties are deemed to be under the control of the employer.

The Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and wider society. It replaced previous anti-discrimination laws with a single Act, making the law easier to understand and strengthening protection in some situations. It sets out the different ways in which it’s unlawful to treat someone.

It is against the law to discriminate against someone because of one of the following ‘protected characteristics’

• age
• being or becoming a transsexual person
• being married or in a civil partnership
• being pregnant or having a child
• disability
• race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin
• religion, belief or lack of religion / belief
• sex
• sexual orientation

The law protects individuals against discrimination at work, including dismissal, employment terms and conditions, pay and benefits, promotion and transfer opportunities, training, recruitment and redundancy.

The Protection from Harassment Act 1997

This Act was originally introduced to address the issue of ‘stalking’ but has evolved into legislation that is applicable to the workplace. Harassment is viewed as behaviour ‘causing alarm or distress’ and ‘putting people in fear of violence’.

Employment Tribunals

Employers face the possibility of responding to claims from employees for unfair / constructive dismissal and this is often related to issues of alleged bullying, harassment and discrimination. In order to avoid issues escalating to an Employment Tribunal it is important that when issues are identified and raised they are dealt with through effective workplace policies and procedures.

Employers and employees should familiarize themselves with the ACAS Code of Practice related to Disciplinary and Grievance procedures.