Harassment and Bullying at Work
What is harassment and Bullying?
ACAS give the following definitions of harassment and intimidation. The terms are used interchangeably for many people, although some definitions may be included as a form of bullying, harassment, the legal definitions is more detailed.
Harassment, in general, is unwanted conduct affecting the dignity of men and women at work. It may be by age, sex, race, disability, religion, sexual orientation, nationality or personal characteristics of the individual and can be Continuous or isolated incident. The most important thing is that the actions or comments deemed defamatory and acceptable to the recipient.
Bullying can be described as offensive, harmful, threatening or offensive behavior, abuse or misuse of power through means of subordinate status, humiliate, denigrate or injure the recipients, age, disability, color, ethnicity or national, racial, religious philosophical or other beliefs, gender and sexuality. Legal definition of harassment requires that the purpose or effect of violating individuals or create; threatening behavior, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive legal position.
Since October 2006 discrimination legislation in the United Kingdom has covered a number of reasons of harassment. Individuals are protected against discrimination in applying for a job during, the same, and in some circumstances, after the end of employment (for example in terms of the provision of a written or verbal reference). It is also the protection of persons against harassment on the basis of membership or non-membership in a Trade Union, and in North Ireland from harassment on the basis of political belief.
The fight against bullying and harassment in the workplace is a joint responsibility of the organization and the people working on this. Primarily, the employer’s responsibility is to establish a communication strategy that is very strong, which establishes the clear commitment for the Organization to promote the dignity and respect at work. Moreover, individuals have a responsibility to behave in ways that support a non-hostile environment for themselves and their colleagues. They must play their part in achieving the organization’s policies and be prepared to challenge the inappropriate behavior and take on the action they have witnessed or have evidence of, that someone is being harassed. Individuals can be personally liable to pay compensation and can not be prosecuted under criminal law and civil law for reporting such acts.
