We believe harassment is never ok.
Harassment is unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic (such as age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity, race and ethnicity, marriage and civil partnership, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation) which violates a person’s dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.
Harassment interferes with an individual’s learning, working or social environment.
Harassment may include, for example:
- unwanted physical conduct or ‘horseplay’, including touching, pinching, pushing, grabbing, brushing past someone, invading their personal space and more serious forms of physical or sexual assault
- offensive or intimidating comments or gestures, or insensitive jokes or pranks
- mocking, mimicking or belittling a person’s disability
- racist, sexist, homophobic or ageist jokes, or derogatory or stereotypical remarks about a particular ethnic or religious group or gender
- outing or threatening to out someone as gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans
- ignoring or shunning someone, for example, by deliberately excluding them from a conversation or a social activity.
A person may be harassed even if they were not the intended "target". For example, a person may be harassed by racist jokes about a different ethnic group if they create an offensive environment.
Find out more
- Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) provide further information on unlawful harassment