“It’s not harassment, it’s only banter.”

By Harry Sherrard, Principal of Sherrards Employment Law Solicitors.

As employment lawyers, probably our least favourite word is banter.
Countless times over the years we have heard the perpetrators of harassment
of various kinds dismiss their behaviour as “only banter.” The word hit the
headlines this month in a report about shocking bullying and harassment in
fire services throughout the UK. Despite extensive evidence of misogynistic
and racist comments and conduct, the predominantly white male senior staff
disturbingly, but sadly predictably, dismissed allegations of harassment as
merely workplace banter.

Anti-harassment workplace legislation has been in place for decades, but in
many workplaces the culture lags far behind. The Equality Act in 2010
strengthened the legislation by introducing the concept of protected
characteristics, including gender, race and religion, and legislating that words
or conduct which created a hostile, offensive or intimidating environment on
the grounds of one of the protected characteristics is unlawful. The legal
pathway is clear and serious cases regularly result in five figure awards.
But employers’ liability for unlawful harassment perpetrated by staff on
fellow employees is not absolute. The employer has available the “reasonable
steps” defence. This requires the employer to demonstrate that the
appropriate culture and policies have been implemented in the workplace,
along with anti-harassment training. In a harassment case, if the tribunal is
satisfied that the employer has taken these reasonable steps to prevent
harassment, but an incident has nonetheless occurred, the individual
perpetrator, rather than the employer, becomes liable for any financial
compensation.

To aid employers in ending the “it’s not harassment, it’s only banter” culture,
and in so doing equip our clients with a “reasonable steps” defence should
they need it, we have developed an interactive, 1 hour online anti-banter
training course. This has already been delivered to staff employed by a wide
range of organisations throughout the UK and has been very well received. To
find out more about this course please send an email to
sarah@sherrardslaw.com

If you would like further information on any of the topics detailed in this blog
please email advice@sherrardslaw.com or call the office on 01273 834120 to
talk to a member of our team.