Harassment is unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual's dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. Harassment may occur physically, verbally or non-verbally and it can be intentional or unintentional. It also includes treating someone less favourably because they have submitted or refused to submit to such behaviour in the past.
Protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 include: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. We believe all forms of harassment to be unacceptable. Where this type of behaviour does not relate to a protected characteristic, we deem this to be bullying.
Harassment may include, for example:
- Abuse through e-mail or other electronic media
- Telling jokes of bad taste
- Displaying offensive material in any form
- Written abuse including graffiti and web sites
- Verbal or written comments of an offensive nature, spreading malicious rumours or insulting someone (particularly on the grounds of race, sex, disability, sexual orientation and religion or belief)
- The use of obscene gestures
- Copying communications that are critical about someone to others who do not need to know
- Victimisation
- Unfair treatment
- Insulting, ridiculing or subjecting a person to any other determent because of his or her colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, gender, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, religion or philosophical belief, age, HIV/Aids status or class
- Behaviour which is deliberately calculated to antagonise another person
- Criminal acts such as physical assaults on another
A person may be harassed even if they were not the intended "target". For example, a person may be harassed by racist jokes about a different ethnic group if they create an offensive environment.
Bullying is a form of harassment which is not related to a specific protected characteristic but is unwanted conduct, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual's dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. Harassment may occur physically, verbally or non-verbally and it can be intentional or unintentional.
Bullying is a form of harassment which is not related to a specific protected characteristic but is unwanted conduct, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual's dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. Harassment may occur physically, verbally or non-verbally and it can be intentional or unintentional.