Workplace bullying and harassment policies: your rights

A manager who laughs off racist abuse, a customer who gropes bar staff, a supervisor who threatens to cut your shifts if you complain. Your employer’s policy should tell you who will act when the person with power is the problem. You should not have to choose between your safety and next week’s wages.

How to report and protect yourself

You do not need to know the right legal label before reporting. Describe the conduct and the effect on you. If you are in immediate danger, seek safety and emergency help first.

1. Keep a dated record. Note the time, place, words or actions and witnesses. Preserve relevant messages and keep secure personal copies where lawful. Do not copy unrelated patient, customer or business records.
2. Report in writing to a safe contact. Bypass your manager if needed. Ask for an acknowledgement, update date and safety measures. You can write: “Please treat this as a complaint under the bullying and harassment policy. Please confirm how you will prevent further contact on shifts while you investigate.”
3. Get support. Ask your union rep. Usdaw covers retail, UNISON many care and NHS staff, and GMB or Unite hospitality, food and warehouses. IWGB supports groups including couriers and cleaners. Check whether a new membership covers an existing dispute. Acas, Citizens Advice and law centres are other advice routes.
4. Raise a formal grievance if needed. Keep complaints, replies and appeals. Ask to bring a colleague or union representative to meetings. See our grievance guide.
5. Protect the deadline separately. Notify Acas within the limit even if your employer is still investigating. You usually need an early conciliation certificate before claiming; you do not have to settle. Timely notification pauses the clock. Get advice on the revised deadline.

Work-related WhatsApp messages and conduct at work social events can count. The connection to work matters, not the app or location. Save the context too.

If there is no safe contact, write to HR, an owner or a senior manager who is not involved, with union help if possible. Record the missing route. Your email is evidence, not automatic proof of a legal breach.

Is it bullying or is it harassment?

There is no freestanding employment tribunal claim called “bullying”. That does not give an employer permission to bully you. The conduct may break equality law, health and safety duties or other legal obligations.

Under section 26 of the Equality Act 2010, harassment is unwanted conduct related to age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. It must have the purpose or effect of violating your dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. When considering the effect, the tribunal looks at your perception, the circumstances and whether it was reasonable for the conduct to have that effect. You do not have to share the characteristic targeted by the abuse.

Sexual harassment is unwanted conduct of a sexual nature. Groping, sexual jokes or persistent sexual messages after a shift can qualify. One incident can be enough. Sexist abuse may instead be harassment related to sex. That distinction matters because the prevention duty and its compensation uplift apply to sexual harassment.

Pregnancy and maternity, and marriage and civil partnership, are not relevant characteristics for this harassment provision. Other Equality Act protections still apply, and the same conduct may be harassment related to sex.

As at 1 October 2026, the sexual-harassment prevention duty covers third-party risks under EHRC guidance. But customer harassment does not automatically give you the same tribunal claim against your employer as harassment by a colleague. New third-party liability is scheduled for 30 October 2026.

What a proper policy must include

Ask for the policy. You should be able to read it without an office login, including on nights or as an agency worker. The EHRC’s technical guidance is not a statutory code, but explains prevention and policy practice. These are the checks we would make.

1. Definitions you can recognise. Separate sexual harassment, protected-characteristic harassment, bullying and victimisation. Use job-specific examples, such as racist nicknames in a food factory, sexual rota-group messages or a supervisor humiliating cleaners.
2. Scope beyond the workplace door. Cover agency staff, work messaging, remote work, home visits, training and work social events. Apply the policy to senior staff too.
3. A route around the problem. Name reporting contacts accessible on every shift, including someone outside your manager’s chain. Include witnesses and informal reports. You should not have to confront the alleged harasser first.
4. A process with dates and an appeal. Give timescales for acknowledgement, updates and outcomes. Explain safety measures, investigation and appeal routes. Limit information to those who need it, but do not promise absolute secrecy.
5. No retaliation. Ban punishment for reporting or supporting complaints. Explain victimisation protection. Investigate lost shifts, worse duties or threats after a report.
6. A third-party procedure. Tell managers how to intervene, record incidents and prevent repeats. A shop may bar a customer; a care provider may need paired visits or a safer care plan. “They are a paying customer” is not an answer.
7. Someone responsible. Name who owns the policy, training and review. Provide accessible formats and translations where needed. Temporary staff and workers without office access need usable reporting information.

Agency staff may have claims against the agency as their employer and against the end user under section 41, depending on the conduct and arrangement. Zero-hours status and an employer-sponsored visa do not remove equality rights. Many contracts to work personally are covered too: a “self-employed” label does not settle your employment status.

Your employer must prevent sexual harassment

Since 26 October 2024, section 40A has required employers in Great Britain to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the course of employment. EHRC guidance includes anticipating harassment by customers, patients and other third parties.

A filed-away policy is not prevention. Employers should assess risks, consult staff and union reps, train managers and review what works. Lone care visits, late bar shifts and a supervisor’s control over agency workers’ hours need different responses. A training attendance sheet does not show that a night supervisor knows what to do when a customer touches a worker.

The duty is separate from existing employer liability for employees’ harassment in the course of employment. Under section 109, the employer’s defence already requires all reasonable steps to prevent the conduct. Harassment was unlawful before 2024.

The EHRC can enforce the duty without an individual claim. You cannot bring a standalone tribunal claim solely for its breach. If you win a sexual harassment claim against your employer and receive compensation, the tribunal must consider the duty and can add up to 25% if it was breached. That maximum is not automatic.

What a good employer does next

Ask who is investigating, how they will avoid conflicts of interest and when you will hear next.

A fair process hears both sides, checks evidence and interviews witnesses promptly. Ask for safety measures that do not cost you pay or hours. Mediation should not be forced on you instead of an investigation.

You should receive an outcome and an appeal route, though confidentiality may limit details of another person’s disciplinary sanction. Serious misconduct can lead to dismissal. Prevention may also need changes to staffing or supervision. Employers should review repeat incidents and whether reporting routes work.

Under section 27, punishment for raising or supporting an Equality Act complaint can be victimisation, without a minimum service requirement. A general bullying complaint is not automatically a protected act. Knowingly false allegations made in bad faith are excluded. If shifts disappear after an equality complaint, keep the rotas and get advice.

The tribunal decides individual harassment claims; the EHRC enforces the prevention duty. Ask your union about referring employer-wide failures to the EHRC. That does not replace your claim or stop its deadline. For bullying that risks health, raise it with your employer and safety rep. HSE guidance covers workplace relationships, but HSE generally does not investigate individual bullying complaints.

NDAs, confidentiality and whistleblowing

A confidentiality clause cannot stop a legally protected whistleblowing disclosure. But reporting harassment is not automatically whistleblowing, and not every confidentiality clause is already void.

Since 6 April 2026, sexual harassment is an express qualifying-disclosure category. You still need a reasonable belief that the information tends to show wrongdoing and that disclosure is in the public interest, and must use a protected route. Workers have protection against detriment. Employees dismissed for protected whistleblowing can claim automatic unfair dismissal without qualifying service. See the Acas conditions and our whistleblowing guide. An equality grievance can still attract victimisation protection even if it is not whistleblowing.

Settlement agreements remain lawful. Waiving relevant statutory claims through one requires advice from an independent adviser meeting the legal requirements. An Acas-conciliated settlement is a separate route. A “confidentiality agreement” does not necessarily waive tribunal rights.

The government’s NDA factsheet explains existing restrictions. For agreements entered into on or after 1 October 2025, section 17 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 protects certain disclosures by victims and direct witnesses of crime to specified recipients for specified purposes. It is not permission to disclose anywhere.

Time limits and what you could win

Your employer’s investigation does not extend your tribunal time limit. Nor does an appeal. Keep those processes and the legal deadline separate.

For harassment on or after 1 October 2026, the usual limit is six months less a day. Earlier incidents normally retain three months less a day. Filing now does not give an old incident the new limit. Get advice on incidents spanning the change and whether they form conduct extending over a period. Do not assume a later incident saves earlier ones.

Notify Acas in time and get the extended deadline checked. A tribunal can extend the discrimination limit where just and equitable; do not rely on that discretion. If dismissed for whistleblowing, seek immediate advice about interim relief. Its application limit is seven days from the effective date of termination.

Injury-to-feelings compensation uses the Vento bands for claims presented on or after 6 April 2026. The lower band is £1,300 to £12,600 for less serious cases. The middle band is £12,600 to £37,700. The upper band is £37,700 to £62,900 for the most serious cases, with the most exceptional awards above that. These are guidelines, not guaranteed payouts. Proven financial loss can be added, and discrimination compensation has no statutory cap. A successful sexual harassment claim may also attract the prevention-duty uplift.

Constructive unfair dismissal generally requires employee status, resignation in response to a fundamental contractual breach and, currently, two years’ service for an ordinary claim. Some automatically unfair reasons need no qualifying service. A six-month period and removal of the compensatory award cap are scheduled for 1 January 2027, not current rights. Read our constructive dismissal and bullying guides. Do not resign without advice.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

Scotland has the same Equality Act harassment rules, prevention duty and discrimination deadline change as England and Wales. Acas covers all three. Vento guidance has a Scotland-specific qualification; ask your adviser about the applicable award. Court remedies need jurisdiction-specific advice.

Northern Ireland has separate legislation, including the Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 1976. The Great Britain prevention duty, its 25% uplift and these harassment reforms do not apply. The usual discrimination tribunal limit remains three months less a day, subject to early conciliation. Use the Labour Relations Agency, not Acas, and seek union or Equality Commission for Northern Ireland advice. See our Northern Ireland guide.

Questions people ask

Is bullying at work illegal?

There is no freestanding tribunal claim for bullying. The conduct may still be unlawful harassment, breach health and safety duties or justify other legal action. Resigning does not automatically give you a constructive dismissal claim. Get advice and use the grievance route before taking that risk.

Does harassment over WhatsApp or on a night out count?

It can, if the conduct is in the course of employment. A rota group or work social event may have that connection. Preserve the messages and context, and report through the policy.

Who is responsible if you are agency or zero-hours?

Zero-hours status does not remove equality protection. Agency staff may have claims against the agency and the organisation where they work, depending on the conduct and arrangement. Tell your adviser about both organisations so they can identify the right respondents and Acas notifications.

Can your employer make you sign an NDA about harassment?

Do not sign before taking independent advice. Confidentiality clauses cannot prevent protected whistleblowing and there are other specific legal restrictions, but the wider Employment Rights Act NDA reform is not yet in force. An existing NDA is not automatically void.

How long do you have to bring a claim?

For a harassment incident on or after 1 October 2026, the usual limit is six months less a day. Earlier incidents usually retain three months less a day. Timely Acas notification pauses the clock. A grievance or appeal does not. Northern Ireland uses a different system.

What must your employer do about abusive customers?

It must already take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, including third-party risks under EHRC guidance. New liability for permitting third-party harassment is scheduled for 30 October 2026, where the employer failed to take all reasonable steps. Ask for intervention, incident records and measures to prevent repeat abuse now.

Sources

1. Equality Act 2010, section 26: harassment, legislation.gov.uk
2. Equality Act 2010, section 27: victimisation, legislation.gov.uk
3. Equality Act 2010, section 41: contract workers, legislation.gov.uk
4. Equality Act 2010, section 109: employer liability, legislation.gov.uk
5. Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, legislation.gov.uk
6. Sexual harassment and harassment at work: technical guidance, EHRC
7. Employment Rights Act 2025, sections 20 to 24, legislation.gov.uk
8. Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 6 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026, regulations 3 and 8, legislation.gov.uk
9. Employment Rights Act 2025, section 65: facilities for equality representatives, legislation.gov.uk
10. Employment Rights Act 2025: implementation timetable, Acas
11. Employment tribunal time limits, updated 1 October 2026, Acas
12. Early conciliation, Acas
13. Whistleblowing at work: the law, Acas
14. Qualifying disclosures and the public-interest requirement, Acas
15. Non-disclosure agreements factsheet, Department for Business and Trade
16. Vento bands: ninth addendum, 30 March 2026, Presidents of the Employment Tribunals
17. Nearly a third of people are bullied at work, 2015 poll, TUC
18. Non-payment of tribunal awards, research published 1 November 2013, Department for Business, Innovation & Skills
19. Management Standards: relationships, HSE
20. Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 1976, article 6A, legislation.gov.uk
21. Employment-related tribunals, nidirect