New law on bullying and preventing it at work: The basics for employers

There is currently no specific claim an employee can bring in the Employment Tribunal (ET) for being bullied at work as there is no legal definition of bullying.

Instead, the basic options available to Claimants are to:

• allege a breach of trust and confidence against the employer for, for example, not taking sufficient action to stamp out the bullying – often requiring the raising of a grievance and a subsequent resignation and constructive unfair dismissal claim; and/or
• link the bullying to a protected characteristic (sex, race, disability, religious belief etc) and then bring a discrimination claim (harassment) under the Equality Act – OK if you have a protected characteristic and you can show that the bullying is linked to that, but no use if you don’t.
• try and rely on the civil courts - these can also offer some redress; personal injury claims can be brought there under the Protection from Harassment Act for example, but this removes the accessibility that the Employment Tribunal seeks to provide.

New law on bullying in the workplace

In July this year, Parliament introduced a Bill that will do the following and employers should take note and ensure they are up to date and ready for this:

• Provide a statutory definition of bullying in the workplace; and
• Introduce legal duties on employers to prevent it.

If this is passed into law:

• employees will be able to bring specific bullying claims in the ET without needing to “hook” their claims onto another type of claim, as above; and
• it will also introduce a Respect at Work Code, setting minimum standards for employers to follow in what would be a potentially significant extension of employee rights.

There will then be a very strong onus on employers to set up formal mechanisms for reporting and investigating bullying and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will have power to investigate organisations and take enforcement action. It is likely training managers and teams will be required to help go some way to avoiding bullying at work too.

Statistics show that 15% of the UK workforce has experienced bullying at work and ACAS estimates that conflict at work costs UK businesses £28bn each year! So, an Act that actually clarifies what bullying is, and outlaws it specifically, would be a big step for both employers and employees.

So, watch this space and we will keep you updated. Even without this subject being legislated, we recommend effective handling of any bullying allegations to avoid disruption and any wider claims linked to this.