Preventing Workplace Harassment
Abusive Conduct
Unwanted behaviour from an employer or employee that is either offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting or a misuse of power that undermines, humiliates, or causes physical or emotional harm. Abusive conduct is also referred to as bullying. Examples of abusive conduct include constantly criticising someone’s work, spreading malicious rumours about someone, deliberately giving someone a heavier workload than everyone else, excluding someone from team social events, and putting humiliating, offensive or threatening comments or photos on social media.
Bystander Effect
A phenomenon where people are less likely to object to or report inappropriate conduct when others also witness the same misconduct. The bystander effect is thought to arise, in part, from diffusion of responsibility. Bystander intervention techniques are taught to empower bystanders to intervene.
Bystander Intervention Techniques
Techniques you can use and actions you can take when you witness sexual harassment, other forms of workplace harassment or any inappropriate workplace behaviour. A bystander can intervene directly or indirectly, by, for example, distracting the target or perpetrator of the inappropriate conduct or by reporting the conduct to a supervisor or human resources (HR).
Diffusion of Responsibility
The tendency of a person to feel less responsibility to help or intervene in a given situation when there are others present, because the person assumes that someone else will take action. Social psychology research indicates that diffusion of responsibility increases as the number of bystanders increases.
Gender Reassignment
Gender reassignment means proposing to undergo, undergoing or having undergone a process to reassign your sex. To be protected from gender reassignment discrimination, a person can be at any stage of the transition process and does not need to have undergone any medical treatment or surgery to change from their birth sex to their preferred gender. The protected characteristic of gender reassignment includes trans and nonbinary people
Hostile Environment
May arise when harassment related to a protected characteristic has the purpose or effect of violating the employee’s dignity
Protected Characteristics
United Kingdom antidiscrimination laws protect employees from harassment or discrimination on the basis of certain individual characteristics. The Equality Act 2010 protects employees in England, Scotland and Wales from harassment and discrimination based on age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race (including colour), nationality and ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. Employees in Northern Ireland are protected from harassment and discrimination on the basis of age, disability, gender reassignment, race (including colour), nationality and ethnic or national origin, religious belief or political opinion, sex and sexual orientation.
Reporting
Sharing concerns about inappropriate behaviour with a supervisor, HR, another member of management or external government agencies, such as the Equality and Human Rights Commission (for Great Britain) or the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.
Sex or Gender Stereotyping
The practice of ascribing to a person specific attributes, characteristics or roles by reason only of the person’s gender or sex. Gender stereotyping includes making assumptions about a person’s appearance or behaviour, gender roles, or an ability or inability to perform certain kinds of work based on a myth, social expectation, or generalization about the individual’s gender or sex.
Sexual Harassment
A form of illegal sex discrimination. Occurs when a person engages in unwanted conduct of a sexual nature which, to a reasonable person, has the purpose or effect of violating an employee’s dignity; or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive work environment. Also, harassment occurs when an employee experiences less favourable treatment because the employee either submitted to or rejected previous sexual harassment, harassment related to sex or harassment related to gender reassignment.
Victimisation
Occurs when an employer treats applicants or employees less favourably because the applicant or employee: made a good faith allegation that another person has engaged in harassment or discrimination; filed a claim in good faith relating to harassment or discrimination; or gave evidence or information in a proceeding related to harassment or discrimination.
Workplace Harassment
Occurs when someone does something that is unwanted, related to a protected characteristic and which, to a reasonable person, has the purpose or effect of violating the employee’s dignity; or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive work environment.
The information contained on this page is for informational purposes only.
It does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice.