Summary
- Criminal harassment involves a course of conduct that causes alarm or distress, and can expose employers to criminal liability if it occurs in the workplace.
- Businesses may be liable where they fail to prevent or address harassment by employees, particularly if complaints are ignored or poorly handled.
- Employers should have clear policies, training, and reporting procedures to reduce legal risk and protect staff.
- This is a guide for UK business owners on criminal harassment in the workplace, prepared by LegalVision, a commercial law firm.
- LegalVision specialises in advising clients on employment law and workplace compliance.
Tips for Businesses
Put a clear anti-harassment policy in place, train staff regularly, and respond promptly to complaints. Keep written records of incidents and actions taken. Review workplace culture and reporting channels to ensure employees feel safe raising concerns early.
Criminal harassment at work is unwanted conduct linked to a protected characteristic that creates an intimidating, hostile or degrading environment. It can arise from a single incident or a pattern of behaviour and may occur in person or online. This article explains what amounts to criminal harassment in the workplace, when it may become a criminal offence, and how employers should respond.
What is Criminal Harassment?
Harassment is unwanted conduct towards another person which relates to one of the nine protected characteristics in employment law such as race, religion and sexual orientation. The effect or intention of harassment is to create an environment for the victim that is humiliating or offensive or violates their dignity. It can be a one-off incident or repeated incidents and could take place in person or online.
Notably, there is no full definition for harassment in law, so you should approach the situation flexibly. It can be behaviour that causes distress or alarm to the victim, such as:
- unwanted physical contact;
- insults;
- unwelcome comments; or
- personal intrusive behaviour such as spying.
Notably, some conduct and behaviour can be criminal harassment. For example, racially or religiously motivated harassment. For harassment to be considered criminal, it must be:
- oppressive;
- unacceptable; and
- known or ought to be known to the perpetrator that the action they committed is harassment.
Additionally, when harassment takes place in the workplace, it could be a crime. Examples of when harassment in the workplace could be a crime include:
- physical attack;
- sexual assault;
- hate crime such as racist or homophobic abuse; and
- threats of violence.
How to Handle Criminal Harassment in the Workplace
If you face an allegation of harassment in the workplace, which would constitute criminal harassment, you should act very cautiously. You will need to take employment and criminal legal advice and ensure that you do not interfere with any external investigations.
Where harassment of a criminal nature has potentially occurred in the workplace, you should ask the victim to report it to the police. Whilst it is usually the decision of your employee whether to report the harassment as criminal, there may be times when you, as the employer, feel obliged to report it. For example if:
- any of your staff are at risk in terms of their safety; or
- the victim is a vulnerable person, such as having a mental health condition, and therefore, there is an increased risk to their safety.
Where you feel it is necessary to report the incident to the police, you should let your employee know that you have done this and inform them once you have spoken to the police.
Where potential criminal harassment has occurred in your workplace and the perpetrator is an employee, and you have reported it to the police, you should check with the police before taking any action against the employee. Action against the employee includes, for example:
- an investigation;
- your disciplinary procedure; and
- potentially suspending your employee from work, and exercise caution when considering this.
Where you carry out actions in the workplace towards potential criminal harassment, you may be required to give the police any information you obtain.
Third-Party Perpetrators
Where criminal harassment takes place in the workplace, and the perpetrator is a third-party, you should:
- make records of when it happens and check your employee allows you to share this with others in your business as required;
- ensure that the third-party perpetrator does not receive information your business holds;
- consider defamation action should the perpetrator carry out potential defamation; and
- consider creating evidence such as phone calls and CCTV.
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What Are an Employer’s Responsibilities Towards Criminal Harassment?
Employers can be vicariously liable for criminal harassment and harassment in the workplace. Vicarious liability is where even though you do not personally carry out the harassment, you can be responsible for the actions of your member of staff who does. It does not matter whether or not you were aware of it.
To ensure that you are not vicariously liable for harassment in the workplace or criminal harassment, you must demonstrate that you took ‘all reasonable steps’ to stop the person from carrying out the harassment. All reasonable steps involve ensuring that you:
- have policies and procedures in place regarding harassment that give examples of what may be harassment;
- follow your policies and procedures;
- provide your workforce with training; and
- carry out regular risk assessments to find out risk factors for harassment.
Key Takeaways
As an employer, you must ensure that your workplace is free from harassment, including criminal harassment. Where you face potential criminal harassment in your workplace, you must exercise caution in approaching this situation. Exercising caution will likely involve you contacting the police and potentially keeping evidence of the harassment. Ultimately, harassment can occur in your workplace through one of your employees or a third party. However, there are ways you can try to prevent harassment from happening in your workplace. For example, you can conduct regular risk assessments and train your workforce on harassment.
LegalVision provides ongoing legal support for businesses through our fixed-fee legal membership. Our experienced employment lawyers help businesses manage contracts, employment law, disputes, intellectual property, and more, with unlimited access to specialist lawyers for a fixed monthly fee. To learn more about LegalVision’s legal membership, call 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Criminal harassment may occur in the workplace as, for example, hate crime, sexual assault or physical violence, including threats of the latter. One of your employees could carry it out or a third party to your workplace.
You can be responsible for criminal harassment in the workplace. This is through vicarious liability, which means that you are responsible even though you did not personally carry it out and may not have been aware of it happening.
Yes. Customers or other third parties can commit criminal harassment. Employers should record incidents, protect employee information, gather evidence like CCTV, and take steps to prevent further harm or legal risk.
Employers must take reasonable steps to prevent harassment, support staff, and implement policies or procedures. Failing to act can expose them to liability and claims, especially if they ignore serious or potentially criminal conduct.
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