Protection from Harassment Act 1997

Yet another theoretical route through the civil courts is offered by the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (PHA 97). The 2007 case of Majrowski v Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Trust, established that the PHA 97 can be used in an employment setting, making an employer vicariously liable for acts of bullying and harassment, as long as there is a sufficiently close connection with employment, and provided the worker can establish a “course of conduct”, directed at him or her and intended to cause alarm or distress.

In practice, however, it is exceptionally difficult to bring a case based on the PHA 97 as a response to workplace bullying. To amount to harassment under the PHA 97, conduct must cross the boundary between being “unattractive and even unreasonable” and become “oppressive and unacceptable” (Sunderland City Council v Conn [2008] IRLR 324) and “of an order which would sustain criminal liability” (Veakins v Kier Islington Ltd [2010] IRLR 132).

Financing any case in the civil courts for personal injury claims (including any claim for psychiatric injury) has been made more difficult following the changes to the law brought in by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 . However, several unions have said that they will bear the costs of these charges and not pass them on to their members.