Seamus:  Well, look, those are the two main types of offences that we see. They tend to be the bullying and the harassment, and that can come in the form of any of our protected characteristics that are set out within our legislation.  

So, the one that mainly comes that you think about is sort of arising via sex discrimination and harassment, bullying, victimisation arising as a result of sex discrimination, generally where there's a male offender and a female victim. It's not always that way. I'm generalising about a lot of the cases that you look online and see that arise.  

But it can happen in any sphere, whether it's due to disability or down to your racial, ethic background, and all those sorts of things. So, it covers all of our protected characteristics. The bullying, harassment, victimisation elements tend to be where it sits.

And on harassment, you'll usually find that it's offensive jokes or comments that are being made, sexual remarks or unwanted touching, which can then lead into sexual assault rather than just harassment, racist/sectarian language, mocking disability or age.  

And it can come in all the different forms. It doesn't need to be that it's you and I having a conversation in the corridor and you saying something. It can come in all types of forms, particularly digitally and through text messages and social media and all those sorts of things that we have.  

Harassment is unlawful where it's connected to a protected characteristic, and then we have also aspects of bullying. The definition of bullying is the repeated inappropriate behaviour intended to intimidate, undermine, humiliate, or injure another person. And those are sort of persistent criticisms, public humiliation, exclusion from work activities, spreading rumours, those sorts of things there.  

And unlike harassment linked to protected characteristic, bullying itself is not a standalone claim in Northern Ireland. And often when you meet with a client or what comes across the desk, they say, "Well, I'm being bullied", and you'll say, "We need to take it out another step from that as well and look at the harassment side".  

The headache for the employer is that those sorts of claims can lead to claims of constructive dismissal, breach of contract, health and safety failures, harassment on the basis of discrimination.

And the law does set out in all the guises of the Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order, the Race Relations, Disability Discrimination Act, DDA, and the Sexual Orientation and Age Regulations. Essentially, what the legislation says is that employers have a duty to prevent unlawful harassment and discrimination. You have to provide a safe working environment for your employees.  

There's a requirement to investigate complaints fairly. There should always be an investigation around any complaints that arise. And then you have to take reasonable steps to protect the well-being of your staff and employees.  

Ultimately, an employment tribunal could hold that an employer is liable if they fail to take reasonable preventative action in relation to any of these situations that arise.

So generally, what you'll always see is that the claim might come through and an individual might be named. The alleged perpetrator could be named. But the employer is vicariously liable for the actions of its employees. And in the vast majority of cases, you will see the employer named, and the tribunal will very much turn its antenna and it will look to see what has the employer done in terms of protecting its employees. What has the employer done to initially advise the employees of what standards are expected?  

A great way of doing that, as I said, is about having very clear values, setting those out in writing. Often, you'll find that near the front of the staff handbook. "These are our values and what we believe in. This is what we stand for, and these are the things that we don't stand for".

So, it is about making sure that there is open communication with staff about that. The tribunal will be very critical if the staff haven't been told what the expectations are.  

And you might say, "Well, look, everybody knows that that's inappropriate or that you don't do that", but unless it's in writing and in some kind of written-down shape, you're going to be in difficulties.  

Then, as I said earlier, it's about your policy and procedure and making sure that you have clear written policy and procedure.

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