2. The law

Construction union UCATT points out that: “Quite unbelievably, the law does not expressly protect employees from bullying and harassment generally.” Additionally, while the Equality Act 2010 (EA 10) defines harassment it only protects employees from such treatment if it is connected to a “protective characteristic”: race; religion or belief (or lack of belief); sex; age; sexual orientation; disability; or because someone intends to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone gender reassignment (see page 46).

And there is no legislation specifically aimed at preventing workplace bullying. Unions campaigned for many years for a specific legal right to dignity at work in a freestanding Dignity at Work Bill without success.

The main laws available to protect workers against workplace bullying and harassment include:

• health and safety laws;

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

• unfair dismissal laws;

• anti-discrimination law (EA 10);

• anti-blacklisting regulations;

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

• the law of negligence (the employer’s duty to take reasonable steps to protect workers from foreseeable psychiatric injury caused by bullying);

• the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; and

• criminal law, including laws outlawing malicious electronic communications.

The TUC emphasises that despite these legal protections: “The priority for trade unions must be to prevent people being bullied in the first place. That means trying to eliminate it from the workplace. To do that, it is important to focus on the bullying behaviour rather than on the bullies themselves. This recognises that some people who bully do not do so knowingly, but specifically reflect a culture that is being allowed to develop within the workplace.”