Harassment is defined under the Equality Act 2010 as unwanted behaviour or conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual's dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment.
The protected characteristics relevant to harassment includes age; disability; gender reassignment; race; religion or belief (or lack of religion or belief); sex; sexual orientation.
Harassment may occur physically, verbally, or non-verbally and it can be intentional or unintentional. It also includes treating someone less favourably because they have submitted or refused to submit to such behaviour in the past.
Harassment may include, for example:
- unwanted physical conduct, 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.
For more information:
For more information: