Capability Branch

BULLYING in the Workplace

What is Workplace Bullying?

How do you know if you're being bullied? Bullying differs from harassment and assault in that the latter can result from a single incident or small number of incidents - which everybody recognises as harassment or assault - whereas bullying tends to be an accumulation of many small incidents over a long period of time. Each incident tends to be trivial, and on its own and out of context does not constitute an offence or grounds for disciplinary or grievance action. Workplace bullying includes:

constant nit-picking, fault-finding and criticism of a trivial nature - the triviality, regularity and frequency betray bullying; often there is a grain of truth (but only a grain) in the criticism to fool you into believing the criticism has validity, which it does not; often, the criticism is based on distortion, misrepresentation or fabrication
simultaneous with the criticism, a constant refusal to acknowledge you and your contributions and achievements or to recognise your existence and value
constant attempts to undermine you and your position, status, worth, value and potential
where you are in a group (e.g. at work), being singled out and treated differently; for instance, everyone else can get away with murder but the moment you put a foot wrong - however trivial - action is taken against you
being isolated and separated from colleagues, excluded from what's going on, marginalised, overruled, ignored, sidelined, frozen out, sent to Coventry
being belittled, demeaned and patronised, especially in front of others
being humiliated, shouted at and threatened, often in front of others
being overloaded with work, or having all your work taken away and replaced with either menial tasks (filing, photocopying, minute taking) or with no work at all
finding that your work - and the credit for it - is stolen and plagiarised
having your responsibility increased but your authority taken away
having annual leave, sickness leave, and - especially - compassionate leave refused
being denied training necessary for you to fulfil your duties
having unrealistic goals set, which change as you approach them
ditto deadlines which are changed at short notice - or no notice - and without you being informed until it's too late
finding that everything you say and do is twisted, distorted and misrepresented
being subjected to disciplinary procedures with verbal or written warnings imposed for trivial or fabricated reasons and without proper investigation
being coerced into leaving through no fault of your own, constructive dismissal, early or ill-health retirement, etc
What Does Bullying do to My Health?

Bullying causes injury to health and makes you ill. How many of these symptoms do you have?
- constant high levels of stress and anxiety
- frequent illness such as viral infections especially flu and glandular fever, colds, coughs, chest, ear, nose and throat infections (stress plays havoc with your immune system)
- aches and pains in the joints and muscles with no obvious cause; also back pain with no obvious cause and which won't go away or respond to treatment
- headaches and migraines
- tiredness, exhaustion, constant fatigue
- sleeplessness, nightmares, waking early, waking up more tired than when you went to bed
- flashbacks and replays, obsessiveness, can't get the bullying out of your mind
- irritable bowel syndrome
- skin problems such as eczema, psoriasis, athlete's foot, ulcers, shingles, urticaria
- poor concentration, can't concentrate on anything for long
- bad or intermittently-functioning memory, forgetfulness, especially with trivial day-to-day things
- sweating, trembling, shaking, palpitations, panic attacks
- tearfulness, bursting into tears regularly and over trivial things
- uncharacteristic irritability and angry outbursts
- hyper-vigilance (feels like but is not paranoia), being constantly on edge
- hypersensitivity, fragility, isolation, withdrawal
- reactive depression, a feeling of woebegoneness, lethargy, hopelessness, anger, futility and more
- shattered self-confidence, low self-worth, low self-esteem, loss of self-love, etc

The following areas of UK and EC law apply to bullying although some of those at the end of the list are at present untested:

Employment Rights Act (1996) (formerly the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978): unfair dismissal, constructive dismissal, wrongful dismissal. The maximum amount that can be awarded for unfair dismissal is £55,000, unless the claim contains a Protected Disclosure as defined by the...
Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998: unfair dismissal or redundancy or detriment for blowing the whistle in the public interest, or...
you have suffered an act of Victimisation on the grounds of a) membership or non-membership of a Trade Union, b) Sunday working, c) being a pension fund trustee, or d) you have reported a threat to the health and safety of workers
Employment Relations Act (1999) and in particular section 37 covering protected disclosure
Breach of contract for breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence
Health & Safety at Work Act 1974: breach of duty of care, also the provision of systems of work that are, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health
Sex Discrimination Act 1975: discrimination on the grounds of sex by dismissing an employee or submitting them to "any other detriment"
Race Relations Act 1976: ditto on racial grounds
Disability Discrimination Act 1995: ditto on grounds of disability or perceived disability
Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992: victimisation on the grounds of trade union membership or non-membership
Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act 1993: rights for blowing the whistle in health and safety cases (carries with it the possibility of substantial compensation)
European Working Time Directive: limits the working week to 48 hours, with exceptions
Personal injury for psychiatric injury (see page on PTSD for details of psychiatric injury). Note that in the wake of Sheriff v. Klyne Tugs (Lowestoft) Ltd, personal injury arising out of harassment and discrimination must now be dealt with at employment tribunal
Negligence for psychiatric injury arising out of the employer's failure to protect employees from bullying, harassment and victimisation (Waters v. London Metropolitan Police, 27 July 2000)
Injury to feelings for humiliation in the manner of dismissal
Criminal Justice & Public Order Act 1994: intentional harassment for causing another person harassment, alarm or distress by using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour
Protection from Harassment Act 1997: harassment and stalking (both criminal and civil provisions are now in force)
Articles 8 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights for unauthorised recording of office telephone calls
Malicious Communications Act (1988) for harassing and abusive phone calls
Malicious falsehood, breach of contract, and negligence if the bully and/or employer refuse to provide a reference or provide a deliberately bad reference
Defamation of character for the bully's, and perhaps employer's, vindictive remarks
Libel (if it's in writing) or slander (spoken) for wilful and defamatory remarks
Manslaughter where a person commits suicide as a result of being bullied
Corporate manslaughter where a person commits suicide as a result of being bullied, and the employer was alerted to the bullying but chose to take no action
EC law: employers have an obligation (called a duty of care) to ensure the safety and wellbeing of employees
Breach of natural justice for being judge and jury
Contempt of court for frightening off employee witnesses or intimidating other employees into retracting statements, usually under threat of loss of job
Perjury for lying under oath
Human Rights Act 1998: UK acceptance of the European Convention on Human Rights
Employment Rights (Dispute Resolution) Act 1998: resolution of tribunal cases without the need for a full tribunal hearing
Data Protection Act 1998: the right to see personal information held on file
Employment Act 2002: updates to employment legislation, including:

applies to all companies regardless of the number of employees statutory grievance and disciplinary & dismissal procedures employees have a right to written particulars of employment automatic unfair dismissal if employers fail to follow the obligations of the Act compensation may be varied by up to 50% if either side has not followed procedures implementation

What is Harassment?

Harassment is any form of unwanted and unwelcome behaviour which may range from mildly unpleasant remarks to physical violence.

Sexual Harassment

Harassment is termed sexual harassment if the unwanted behaviours are linked to your gender or sexual orientation. The EU definition of sexual harassment is "unwanted conduct of a sexual nature or other conduct based on sex affecting the dignity of men and women at work".

Racial Harassment

Racial harassment is when the behaviours are linked to your skin colour, race, cultural background, etc. In countries with sectarian tradition (e.g. as in Ireland) the term sectarian harassment is often used if the behaviours are linked to your religious beliefs or perceived religious origin or inclination. If the harassment is physical, the criminal law of assault may be appropriate. If the harassment comprises regular following, watching, repeated unsolicited contact or gifts, etc, the term stalking may be appropriate.

Discrimination is when you are treated differently (e.g. less favourably) because of your gender, race or disability.

Differences between Harassment and Bullying

Briefly, harassment tends to have a strong physical component and is usually linked to gender, race, disability or physical violence; bullying tends to be a large number of incidents (individually trivial) over a long period comprising constant unjustified and unsubstantiated criticism.

The differences between harassment and bullying are summarised above

Areas of UK law that apply to harassment

The Principal Areas of UK Law Relating to Harassment

Sex Discrimination Act 1975: discrimination on the grounds of sex by dismissing an employee or submitting them to "any other detriment"
Race Relations Act 1976: ditto on racial grounds
Disability Discrimination Act 1995: ditto on grounds of disability
Protection from Harassment Act 1996: harassment and stalking
Criminal Justice & Public Order Act 1994: intentional harassment for causing another person harassment, alarm or distress by using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour
Criminal law of assault

The source of most bullying and harassment can usually be traced to one individual. Most people know one person in their life with a bully profile - who is it in your life?

Information

UNISON's Safety Representatives Guide to Bullying at Work

ACAS Advice leaflet Bullying and Harassment at Work: Guidance for Employees

BullyOnLine is the world's largest resource on workplace bullying and related issues BullyOnLine

is a project of The Field Foundation

There are also bullying help lines available,

such as the

UK National Workplace Bullying Advice Line (tel 01235 212286)

The Andrea Adams Trust Committed to Preventing Workplace Bullying

Bullying Fact-sheet

Help Line (tel 01273 704900)

UNISON News feature Bully or Bossy

Hazards Magazines Fact-sheet : Psychoterror

http://www.tuc.org.uk/tuc/rights_bullyatwork.cfm

More for Managers

Health and Safety Executive Management standards for stress

ACAS Advise leaflet Bullying and Harassment at Work: A Guide for Managers and Employers

Chartered Management Institute:

Bullying in the Workplace – Guidance for Managers Bullying at Work - The experience of managers.

Extract from the ACAS Frequently asked Questions Webpage

Bullying

"What is bullying?

"It is regular intimidation that undermines the confidence and capability of the victim. Bullying can take the form of verbal abuse, violent gestures, physical violence, allocation of blame and 'picking on' workers unfairly, public humiliation of workers, or a more 'subtle' war of words to undermine the worker's confidence. It can be similar to harassment.

What are the legal implications?

In common law employers are bound to provide a safe working environment, which includes freedom from bullying. Workers may take civil court action if employers fail to take reasonable steps to prevent bullying which causes harm to the worker. Damages may be awarded to workers in such cases. Workers may also claim that in serious cases bullying amounts to constructive dismissal (click here for more on constructive dismissal) and make a claim to an employment tribunal.

How should employers deal with bullying at work?

Make prompt enquiries
Initially counsel bullies to enable them to change their offensive behaviour
If bullying continues carry out an investigation and if necessary take disciplinary action"

Bully Online

Bully Online is the world's largest resource on workplace bullying and related issues
Bully Online is a project of The Field Foundation

Recommended Reading : BULLY IN SITE by Tim Field and Foreword by Diana Lamplugh OBE

"An insider's view which validates the experience of bullying, identifies the serial bully, and describes the injury to health caused by bullying and harassment"

"Only serial bullies respond to being held accountable by using the strategy of denial / counterattack (retaliation) / feigning victimhood (tears, claiming to be the one being bullied). Therefore, the existence of this behavioural pattern is tantamount to an admission of bullying."

UK National Workplace Bullying Advice Line (Tel 01235 212286)

You Could Take Part in a Online Survey of Workplace Bullying undertaken by

digital opinion... how a survey can be

National Workplace Bullying Survey & Feedback from the Workplace Bullying Survey

Also See

Profile of a Serial Bully

UNISON will not TOLERATE Bullying or Harassment in any form

If you need Help or Advice about Bullying or Harassment

contact a Branch Steward or Branch Officer

UNISON Capability Scotland Branch 6 Shillinghill Alloa Clackmannanshire FK10 1JT Telephone 01259 220830

unison.capscotbranch@virgin.net