LRD guides and handbook June 2016

Law at Work 2016

Chapter 7

Other laws to combat harassment in the workplace 


[ch 7: page 218]

These include:


• statutory and common law duties 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 (see Chapter 3);


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


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


• criminal law, including laws outlawing malicious communications;


• unfair dismissal laws (see Chapter 10);


• anti-blacklisting laws (see Chapter 5);


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