Harassment
Sunday, 17 October 2021 21:42
Statutory harassment:
- Harassment related to a protected characteristic (EA 2010, s.26)
○ A person (A) harasses another (B) if
▪ A engages in unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic and
▪ The conduct has the purpose or effect of
□ Violating B's dignity or
□ Creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive
environment for B
'Related to' - Kettle v Ward [2006]
◊ Cleaner and manager did not get along - manager (male)
thought that the cleaner (female) was bunking off of work by
staying in the women's toilets
◊ Manager burst in and accused her of bunking off work - she told
him that he shouldn’t be in the women's toilets and he said that
he could go wherever he wanted - cleaner brought a claim of
harassment and lost
◊ Conduct was not because of sex
'Related to' - Third party harassment - Coleman v Attridge Law Case
C-303/06
◊ Woman returning to work after giving birth to a severely
disabled baby was harassed at work regarding her baby's
condition
◊ Brought a claim relating to harassment because of disability and
she won
'Related to' - Perceived harassment
'Related to' - Where nobody's protected ground was involved - English
v Sanderson Blinds [2009] ICR 543 (CA); Lee v Ashers Bakery [2018]
UKSC 49
'Conduct' - any type of conduct, verbal, emails, phone calls etc
'Purpose or effect' - Richmond Pharmacology v Dhaliwal (2009):
◊ 'a respondent may be held liable on the basis that the effect of
his conduct has been to produce proscribed consequences
[violating dignity or hostile environment] even if that was not
his purpose; and, conversely, that he may be liable if he acted
for the purposes of producing the proscribed consequences but
did not in fact do so…'
'Purpose or effect' - Sheffield CC v Norouzi (2011)
◊ Norouzi was of Iranian origin and co-workers made fun of his
accent intending to create banter
◊ In reality they were upsetting and violating Norouzi
◊ Though the purpose was not harmful there was an effect so
there could be liability
'Violating B's dignity or creating a hostile environment'
Assessing the effect of the conduct - s.26(4) EA 2010; 'In deciding
whether conduct has the effect [violation of dignity or hostile
environment] each of the following must be taken into account:
◊ The perception of B
◊ The other circumstances of the case
◊ Whether it is reasonable for the conduct to have that effect
- Sexual harassment (EA 2010, s.26(2))
○ A person harasses another if
▪ A engages in unwanted conduct of a sexual conduct and
Equality Law Page 1
Sunday, 17 October 2021 21:42
Statutory harassment:
- Harassment related to a protected characteristic (EA 2010, s.26)
○ A person (A) harasses another (B) if
▪ A engages in unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic and
▪ The conduct has the purpose or effect of
□ Violating B's dignity or
□ Creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive
environment for B
'Related to' - Kettle v Ward [2006]
◊ Cleaner and manager did not get along - manager (male)
thought that the cleaner (female) was bunking off of work by
staying in the women's toilets
◊ Manager burst in and accused her of bunking off work - she told
him that he shouldn’t be in the women's toilets and he said that
he could go wherever he wanted - cleaner brought a claim of
harassment and lost
◊ Conduct was not because of sex
'Related to' - Third party harassment - Coleman v Attridge Law Case
C-303/06
◊ Woman returning to work after giving birth to a severely
disabled baby was harassed at work regarding her baby's
condition
◊ Brought a claim relating to harassment because of disability and
she won
'Related to' - Perceived harassment
'Related to' - Where nobody's protected ground was involved - English
v Sanderson Blinds [2009] ICR 543 (CA); Lee v Ashers Bakery [2018]
UKSC 49
'Conduct' - any type of conduct, verbal, emails, phone calls etc
'Purpose or effect' - Richmond Pharmacology v Dhaliwal (2009):
◊ 'a respondent may be held liable on the basis that the effect of
his conduct has been to produce proscribed consequences
[violating dignity or hostile environment] even if that was not
his purpose; and, conversely, that he may be liable if he acted
for the purposes of producing the proscribed consequences but
did not in fact do so…'
'Purpose or effect' - Sheffield CC v Norouzi (2011)
◊ Norouzi was of Iranian origin and co-workers made fun of his
accent intending to create banter
◊ In reality they were upsetting and violating Norouzi
◊ Though the purpose was not harmful there was an effect so
there could be liability
'Violating B's dignity or creating a hostile environment'
Assessing the effect of the conduct - s.26(4) EA 2010; 'In deciding
whether conduct has the effect [violation of dignity or hostile
environment] each of the following must be taken into account:
◊ The perception of B
◊ The other circumstances of the case
◊ Whether it is reasonable for the conduct to have that effect
- Sexual harassment (EA 2010, s.26(2))
○ A person harasses another if
▪ A engages in unwanted conduct of a sexual conduct and
Equality Law Page 1
