Harassment - Age Discrimination Regulations
Legal
advice on age discrimination - Harassment:
Here we discuss the situation involving
"harassment" at work and
the impact of the new age discrimination legislation.
If you feel you may been treated unfairly at work
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Harassment
Harassment includes behaviour that
is offensive, frightening or in any way distressing. It may be intentional
bullying which is obvious or violent, but is can also be unintentional, subtle
and insidious. It may involve nicknames, teasing, name calling or other
behaviour which is not with malicious intent but which is upsetting. It may be
about the individual’s age or it may be about the age of those with whom the
individual associates. It may not be targeted at an individual but consist of
general culture which, for instance, appears to tolerate the telling of ageist
jokes.
Employers may be held responsible
for the actions of its employees – as well as the employees being individually
responsible. If harassment takes place in the workplace or at a time and place
associated with the workplace, for example a work-related social gathering, the
employer may be liable. The Employer may be ordered to pay compensation unless
it can be shown that they took reasonable steps to prevent harassment.
Individuals who harass may also be ordered to pay compensation.
It is good practice to protect
workers from harassment by third parties, such as service users and customers.
When an employer is investigation
claims of harassment, they should consider all the circumstances before reaching
a conclusion. Harassment is often subjective so thought must be given to the
complainant’s perception of what has happened to them. One must ask oneself If
what has taken place could ‘be reasonably considered to have caused offence?’
Here are a couple of examples to
illustrate the point
Example: A young employee
is continually told he is ‘wet behind the ears’ and ‘straight out of the pram’
which he finds humiliating and distressing. This is harassment.
Example: An employee has a
father working in the same workplace. People in the workplace often tell jokes
about ‘old fogies’ and tease the employee about teaching ‘old dogs new tricks’.
This may be harassment on the grounds of age, even though it is not the victim’s
own age that is subject of the teasing.
Read about:
Direct Discrimination
Indirect
Discrimination
Victimisation
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