The joke everyone laughs at except one person
A sales team's group chat runs on jokes about one colleague's accent. He laughs along because the alternative is worse. When he asks the manager to stop it, the manager calls it banter.
What is harassment?
Harassment is unwanted conduct that has the purpose or effect of violating a person's dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. At work it is unlawful when the conduct relates to a protected characteristic or is sexual in nature, and one serious incident can be enough.
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Harassment at work: three examples
The invitation that keeps coming back
A senior manager asks a junior colleague for drinks after a late shift. She says no. The next week he asks again, then comments on what she is wearing, and her shifts move to the ones he supervises.
The customer the company will not challenge
A key client's director makes comments about a receptionist's body on every visit. She reports it twice. Her manager says the account is too important and moves her to the back office instead.
What the law says
Section 26 and the duty to prevent
Section 26 of the Equality Act 2010 covers unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic, unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, and worse treatment for rejecting or submitting to it, judged on the person's perception, the circumstances and whether the effect is reasonable. Since 26 October 2024 employers must take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. From 30 October 2026 the duty is all reasonable steps, third parties included.
Outside the Directive, except as retaliation
Directive 2019/1937 does not list harassment among the breaches it covers, though a member state may extend its scope. It does list coercion, intimidation, harassment or ostracism as a form of retaliation against a reporter, and once a reporter shows that a detriment followed their report, the person who took the measure must prove it had other grounds.
Title VII and the EEOC definition
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars discrimination in employment because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and harassment is one form of it. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission defines harassment as unwelcome conduct based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age from 40, disability or genetic information. Its examples include offensive jokes, slurs, threats, ridicule and interference with work.
How organizations manage it
Harassment is managed before the complaint, by making reporting easy, and after it, by investigating promptly.
Book a demoWrite and publish the policy
A policy that uses the section 26 definition, names the behavior with examples, covers third parties, and says what happens to a complaint and to the person who makes it.
Give people a route they will use
The Equality and Human Rights Commission asks employers to consider a reporting system that lets a worker raise an issue anonymously or in name. It should not run through the person complained about.
Investigate promptly and separately
Someone outside the reporting line establishes the facts without unreasonable delay, hears both sides and records the outcome. Where practicable the investigation and the decision are taken by different people.
Show all reasonable steps
From 30 October 2026 the test is all reasonable steps: a risk assessment, training refreshed before it goes stale, complaints handled, third-party incidents treated like those by colleagues, and a regular review of whether it works.
Harassment FAQ
Is harassment illegal?
Yes. In Great Britain harassment related to a protected characteristic, or of a sexual nature, is unlawful under section 26 of the Equality Act 2010, and the employer is liable unless it took all reasonable steps to prevent it. A course of conduct that the person knows or ought to know amounts to harassment is a crime in England and Wales under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, and Scotland and Northern Ireland have equivalent laws. In the US harassment based on a protected ground is discrimination under Title VII.
What are the types of harassment?
Section 26 of the Equality Act 2010 has three: harassment related to a protected characteristic, sexual harassment, and worse treatment for rejecting or submitting to it. The seven characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 separately makes a course of conduct that alarms or distresses someone a crime. Bullying is not a legal term: Acas says there is no specific law against it.
Does one incident count as harassment?
Under the Equality Act it can. Acas lists a serious one-off incident among its examples of harassment, alongside spoken or written words, imagery, gestures, jokes and physical behavior. What matters is the purpose or effect of the conduct, judged with the person's perception and the circumstances in view. The criminal offence under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 requires a course of conduct, meaning at least two occasions.
How do you report harassment at work?
Keep a dated note of each incident and who saw it. Use the route your policy gives, which should not run through the person involved and which the Equality and Human Rights Commission says should work anonymously or in name. A report that sexual harassment has occurred or is likely to occur can be a qualifying disclosure since 6 April 2026, and it is protected when the reporter reasonably believes it is in the public interest and makes it to the right person, such as the employer. Confide takes the report by web form, voice, QR code or email, and anyone named is locked out.
See how a harassment report is handled