Other laws relevant to a claim for workplace harassment

Other laws to combat harassment in the workplace include:

• the duty to take reasonable care to protect workers’ health, safety and welfare and to provide a workplace free from the risk of harassment;

• the employment contract, including the contractual right to work in a safe environment and the implied duty of mutual trust and confidence;

• the common law of negligence leading to reasonably foreseeable personal injury;

• the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (only suitable for very serious cases of harassment);

• criminal law, including laws outlawing malicious communications;

• unfair dismissal laws;

• anti-blacklisting laws;

• laws protecting whistleblowers and workers engaged in lawful trade union activities.