In Short
- Take Every Allegation Seriously: Respond promptly and fairly to any bullying or harassment claims to avoid legal risks and protect your team.
- Start with a Sensitive Conversation: Speak privately with the complainant, gather details, and explore whether they prefer informal or formal resolution.
- Follow a Clear Process: Use your internal policies or a formal grievance procedure to investigate and document your response thoroughly.
Tips for Businesses
If an employee raises a bullying or harassment allegation, act quickly, keep records, and handle the issue sensitively. Review your policies, involve a neutral investigator if needed, and follow either an informal or formal process based on the circumstances and employee preferences.
As an employer, there are times when you may have to deal with difficult situations. One such situation that may arise is when an employee raises an allegation of workplace bullying or harassment. If attempts to resolve the issue informally are unsuccessful, your employee may submit a formal complaint of workplace bullying or harassment. They may even take legal action, which means going to an employment tribunal. Therefore, it is essential to understand how to respond to allegations of bullying or harassment. This article will explain how you should respond to a bullying or harassment allegation in your business.
What Is Bullying and Harassment?
When a person does something that causes another to feel offended or intimidated, this is bullying and harassment. This might include behaviour which is:
- offensive;
- humiliating;
- harmful in either a physical or emotional way; or
- intimidating.
Bullying and harassment do not have to happen face-to-face, but could happen in a written format, such as through a letter or an email. It could also happen over the phone.
The following are examples of behaviour in the workplace, which could be bullying or harassment at work:
- mistreating someone;
- spreading malicious rumours;
- constantly putting a person down or picking on them; and
- stopping someone from taking a promotion or training opportunity.
Whilst bullying is not against the law, harassment in certain circumstances is. This is the key difference between bullying and harassment.
Harassment is an unlawful form of bullying if it relates to any of the following:
- race;
- disability;
- age;
- sex;
- sexual orientation;
- religion or belief;
- maternity of pregnancy issues;
- civil partnership and marriage; or
- gender reassignment.
What Is Your Responsibility?
Employers have a responsibility to prevent bullying and harassment from occurring within the workplace. There is a legal responsibility to do all you reasonably can to prevent it. You also have a duty of care towards your staff to look after their well-being.
Continue reading this article below the formActions to Take if an Employee Raises a Bullying or Harassment Allegation
If you are faced with an allegation of bullying or harassment in the workplace, you must take this seriously. There are legal options an employee can take regarding the allegation, so taking it seriously can potentially prevent the situation from escalating.
Your initial response should be to review your workplace’s policies and procedures for addressing allegations of bullying or harassment. It is also important that you address any allegation in a sensitive and fair manner. This pertains to the employee making the allegation, the person accused, and anyone else involved.
Talk to the Employee Making the Allegation
First, it is vital to meet with the employee making the allegation and discuss the following:
- what exactly has happened;
- who is involved;
- what kind of response they wish to see;
- what type of support they may require, such as staff support networks or external organisations such as charities; and
- assurance that the complaint is confidential.
You should try to keep an open mind during this conversation. You should also be mindful of any sensitive issues surrounding the allegation and keep an eye on their mental well-being after they have raised the allegation.
Take Action
During your conversation with your employee, you will have discussed what course of action they may wish to take. There are many ways to respond to an allegation of bullying or harassment. For example, speaking with the person accused, monitoring the issue, or engaging in mediation are all options. It is also possible to address the issue through formal channels.
You must take the action your employee wishes to take. However, where you cannot agree, it is up to you to decide how to move forward. For example, you may decide that the allegation is too serious to handle informally. However, if your employee opts to take formal action, regardless of your views, you must comply.
Informal Action
An employer should attempt to address a bullying or harassment allegation informally whenever possible. You may need to investigate the complaint further before deciding on a course of action. Where this is the case, you will need to:
- decide who is best placed to do this, such as a neutral person;
- gather evidence; and
- keep a record of all the steps taken. and your findings
When you decide which informal action is most appropriate, you may need to check that the employee who made the allegation agrees with you. You may decide on more than one course of action, like:
- mentoring;
- training;
- a meeting with all involved;
- speaking one-on-one with those involved; or
- mediation.
You may alternatively decide that no action is needed. If this is the case, ensure that you record this in writing with your reasons.
Formal Action
Where either you or your employee decides that formal action is necessary, you should follow the relevant formal procedure in place within your business. Alternatively, if you do not have a specific procedure in place for addressing bullying and harassment allegations, you should follow a formal grievance procedure. As part of this, there are two key points to consider initially.
Who Will Investigate the Complaint?
Ideally, this should be a neutral person again. If your business is too small to allow this, ensure that the person investigating keeps an open mind and acts fairly. Another option is to hire an outside investigator. the dispute
Do You Need to Separate Employees?
This may be necessary to protect employees. Any separation must be carried out fairly, and any consideration of suspension should be undertaken with great care.
If the result of your formal procedure is to take disciplinary action against an employee, then you should follow a formal disciplinary procedure.
After Responding to a Bullying or Harassment Allegation
Once you have responded to the allegation, it is best to do the following:
- keep a clear record of what you did, the evidence gathered, and your final actions;
- update the employee who made the allegation;
- keep tabs on the issue; and
- continue to attempt to prevent bullying and harassment from happening. This may include new procedures in place as specific responses to an allegation.
This factsheet outlines key developments in 2025 affecting workforce management. In particular, the proposed Employment Rights Bill (2024) will drive significant changes, anticipated to start late 2025.
Key Takeaways
As an employer faced with an allegation of bullying or harassment, you are ultimately responsible for the behaviour. As such, you must handle the dispute immediately, seriously, and fairly. After discussing the allegation with your employee, you have options to respond to it informally or through a formal procedure. Either procedure will involve gathering evidence and deciding upon a final course of action. Likewise, it is essential to maintain a concise written record of your response to the allegation. You should also consider implementing additional procedures to address the allegation and prevent future bullying or harassment.
If you need help understanding how to respond to a bullying or harassment allegation in your business, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Whilst the person carrying out the bullying or harassment is responsible for it, an employer can also be legally responsible as a third party.
An employer has a legal responsibility to ensure that bullying and harassment do not occur at work.
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