Bullying And Harassment In The Workplace

What is bullying and harassment?

Bullying and harassment are both unacceptable and immoral forms of unwanted, offensive, malicious behaviour against an individual, or sometimes a group of individuals. They can cause extreme stress and anxiety to the person being bullied or harassed and can have a detrimental effect on them and their families. Although bullying is not unlawful, it is possible, if you are victim of bullying, to make a claim under harassment laws. Harassment is offensive behaviour and unwanted conduct and can be related to age, race, religion, sex, disability, sexual orientation or nationality. Harassment is unlawful behaviour and can result in a tribunal, often with a large amount of damages being paid out to the victim. Bullying and harassment can take the form of face to face conduct, email, letter, telephone or text message. It can be an isolated incident or a continuous episode of unacceptable and offensive behaviour towards an individual or a group of inividuals.

Effect on the victim

We all know that bullying and harassment, in any aspect of life, is unacceptable and yet we have all heard cases of it happening, whether in the school playground, in the home or in the workplace. A person who is being bullied or harassed will feel stressed and anxious, their confidence levels will be affected, they may start to isolate themselves from other people and their work and home life may start to suffer. In the workplace, the person being bullied may start taking a lot of time off work, may no longer be able to keep to deadlines and may no longer be able to maintain good relations with their colleagues.

What to do if you are an employee being bullied

If you are experiencing bullying or harassment in the workplace it is a good idea to try and solve the problem informally in the first instance by talking to your colleagues and employer. However, if this does not resolve the problem then the next step would be to make a formal complaint and follow your employer’s grievance procedure. If an employee is forced to resign because of bullying they may be able to make a claim for constructive dismissal.

What to do if you are an employer

Employers have a duty of care to employees to ensure their health and safety in the workplace and this includes dealing with bullying and harassment. Bullying and harassment can have an extremely detrimental effect on the victim’s health. The employer must take reasonable steps to prevent the bullying and harassment from continuing. It is very much in the employer’s interest to avoid any bullying and/or harassment in the workplace as, as well as being unlawful and immoral, it can have a detrimental effect on staff morale and production, which in turn may affect the overall running of the business. Employers must ensure that they have a bullying and harassment policy in place and make it clear that bullying and harassment will not be tolerated in the workplace and will be taken extremely seriously.

Summary

When an individual is, or a group of individuals are, being bullied they are victims of actions or comments which are viewed as demeaning and unacceptable and the bullying often takes place in front of other colleagues in order to humiliate the victim. The bullies come across as intimidating and malicious and their bullying and/or harassment will often be work related but equally may be centred around a non-work related issue. It is important that employers and employees work together to ensure that any bullying or harassment issue is dealt with as soon as possible for the sake of all of those involved.

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