Harassment
Not Bothered
Was there harassment within the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, s 1 in v City Council [2007] 2 All ER (D) 99 (Nov)? Two incidents were proved involving the claimant and his foreman for whom the employer would be vicariously liable. In the first, the foreman lost his temper and threatened to smash the window of the claimant’s portacabin with his fist and to report the claimant and two other men present to the personnel department.
The other men were unbothered by all of this. In the second, the foreman threatened to give the claimant “a good hiding” even if it would lead to the foremen being dismissed. The Court of Appeal held that a civil claim could only arise if the conduct also amounted to a s 2 criminal offence. What constituted the boundary between unattractive and unreasonable conduct and oppressive and unacceptable conduct might well depend on the context in which the conduct occurred. The touchstone was whether the conduct was of such gravity as to justify
