Harassment by third parties
[ch 11: page 202]Legislation that was aimed particularly at protecting front-line staff, such as care workers, teachers and nurses, from abuse has unfortunately been repealed but there may be other ways of enforcing a right to protection against third party harassment. One is by arguing that the employer’s failure to protect the worker is a breach of the general anti-harassment duty under section 26 of the EA 2010. Organisations can also be made liable for the bullying carried out by non-employees under their direction — such as volunteers, agency workers or employees of facilities management companies, under changes to the law of vicarious liability (see page 207), following a new ruling supported by the prison officers’ union POA, Cox v Ministry of Justice [2016] UKSC 10.
In an extreme case, a worker may be able to bring a case under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
The TUC has published online guidance, Bullying at Work — guidance for safety representatives, which is available on the TUC website (https://www.tuc.org.uk/resource/bullying-work-guidance-safety-representatives).
Information on how unions have tackled bullying and harassment can be found in the LRD booklets, Bullying and harassment at work — a guide for trade unionists and Tackling sexual harassment at work — a guide for union reps. They provide step-by-step guidance looking at how reps can help members deal with sexual harassment, including making and handling complaints, as well as ensuring that procedures are fair to all concerned.
LRD, Bullying and harassment at work — a guide for trade unionists (www.lrdpublications.org.uk/publications.php?pub=BK&iss=1794)
LRD, Tackling sexual harassment at work — a guide for union reps (www.lrdpublications.org.uk/publications.php?pub=BK&iss=1911)