HARASSMENT AT WORK AND THE PROTECTION FROM HARASSMENT ACT 1997

Specific statutory provisions deal with harassment in the workplace on the grounds of race, sex, sexual orientation, disability and religious or other belief. To the surprise of many lawyers, the courts have ruled that the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 – a statute originally enacted to deal with the problem of stalkers – provides an alternative remedy to employees who suffer harassment at work. This has the following important implications for employers:

• The Act applies to all kinds of harassment regardless of the reason for the harassment. An employee will have a potential claim under the Act if he can point to conduct at his workplace on at least two occasions which was targeted at the employee and calculated to cause distress, and which was oppressive and unreasonable.

• There are significant differences between a claim under the Act and a personal injuries claim based on negligence. The employee does not need to prove that his employer could have foreseen the damage that occurred. Further, compensation may be recovered for anxiety or stress as well as physical injury.

• Employees have six years in which they may bring a claim under the Act. The time-limit for normal personal injury claims is three years, whilst that for a harassment claim on one of the discrimination grounds is three months although.

• Under the statutory provisions dealing with discrimination, an employer has a good defence to a claim if he can prove that he took all reasonable steps to prevent the conduct or actions complained of. The employer does not have such a defence to a claim for harassment under the 1997 Act.

It is easy to see that a claim under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 has definite attractions from an employee’s point of view. If you would like to know more about this area of law and how you might take steps to avoid such claims being made against your business, please contact Nick Crook or Gareth Pobjoy.

Filed: 16/11/2007 08:25:24