The reason why harassment cases have all revolved around sex or race is because of the fact that until the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 there was no legislation in force specifically prohibiting harassment as such in the UK. However since 1975/76 there has been specific legislation in force prohibiting sexual and racial discrimination and cases of sexual or racial harassment have been dealt with by the courts on the basis that sexual or racial harassment is in fact sexual or racial discrimination. Therefore in such cases workers had to demonstrate that they had bee not only harassed but the reason they were so wass because of sex or race. The grounds because of which harassment have been prohibited extended to cover disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief and age. Moreover, the Equality Act 2010 provides that harassment at work has to be related to such grounds in order to constitute harassment under the Act. This amendment is expected to lessen the burden of proving the causation between harassment and those grounds. Time limits for bringing cases before an Employment Tribunal are tight and claims must be brought within 3 months of the date of the last incident complained of.
Persons who have been harassed at work because of grounds other than those under the Equality Act are not completely helpless from a legal point of view.If someone is harassed at their place of work they could decide to sue their employer for damages using the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 rather than by going to an Employment Tribunal. In some circumstances this route could be simpler particularly if there could be technical arguments as to whether they were an employee or a self employed contractor. Those employment law technicalities would not be relevant in any legal claim under the act. All that would be relevant is the fact that the harassment occurred, the damage it caused and whether the employer was vicariously liable for permitting, or not preventing the Harassment. The Law relating to Vicarious Liability was clarified and extended by the House of Lords in the case of Lister v Hesley Hall Ltd and following this in the case of Majrowski v. Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Trust the House of Lords held that an employer would be vicariously liable under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 for damages arising from Harassment of an employee by other employees. The Time Limit for bringing a claim for damages under section 3 of The Protection from Harassment Act 1997. is 6 years which is far longer than the 3 month time time limit for bringing claims for Racial or Sexual Discrimination.
Moreover, if workers have been subjected to such a degree of harassment that they have to leave their employment then they can claim compensation from an Employment Tribunal on the grounds that they have been the victim of ‘constructive dismissal’.