“Harassment” can be defined as a wide range of inappropriate behaviours that are considered to demean, humiliate or intimidate and can take many different forms, including physical, psychological, verbal or emotional abuse. Harassment in some contexts can mean unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature, usually demonstrated as unwanted sexual advances that might include the use of sexually motivated language, innuendo or advances, or physical touching, particularly (but not explicitly) of a sexual nature.
In the context of the UK’s Equality Act 2010, “harassment” is defined as unlawful behaviour that demeans, humiliates or intimidates and is specifically related to someone’s age, sex, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation.
“Bullying”, although often used synonymously with, or alongside, “harassment” (you will often hear people speaking about “bullying and harassment”), is not in and of itself unlawful, and is not covered within the provisions of the Equality Act 2010. Bullying relates to similar behaviours as harassment, but the motivations for the behaviour are unrelated to a person’s age, sex, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. Bullying is generally defined as behaviours or actions that are repeated and can often escalate in both frequency and severity over a period of time.
Harassment, or harassing behaviour that is motivated by someone’s age, sex, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation, can be a single or one-off incident and does not have to be a pattern of repeated behaviour. However, much like bullying, harassment can also often escalate in frequency and severity if continuing unchecked or unchallenged.
