Harassment in the United Kingdom is a topic which in the past couple of decades has been taken increasingly seriously and has been the subject of a number of pieces of major legislation. This article is intended to outline the procedure behind making and investigating harassment claims, primarily in the workplace.

Introduction

Though racial and sexual discrimination have been unlawful under the Race Relations Act (RRA) and the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) respectively, it is only comparatively recently that specific legislation has defined harassment specifically as unlawful.

Because of the rise recently in awareness of the issues involved in harassment, recent trends have shown significant rises in the number of people making claims of harassment at Employment Tribunals. If the complaint is serious, high damages may be awarded against the Employer, so it can be seen that it is important for the Employer to take seriously any allegation of harassment at an early stage and take steps to quickly resolve it.

There is also legislation in place to be able to deal with discrimination, and this legislation is distinct to that provided under the SDA and RRA.