Законодательство об оскорблениях и преследованиях в Великобритании: обзор и ответственность работодателя.

Harassment is a topic which, in the past few decades, has been taken increasingly seriously in the United Kingdom, and has been the subject of a number of pieces of legislation.

Racial and sexual discrimination have been unlawful under the Race Relations Acts and the Equality Act 2010 (originally the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 which was repealed). Respectively, it is only comparatively recently that specific legislation has defined harassment specifically as unlawful. Because of the rise recently in awareness of the issues involved in harassment, recent trends have shown significant rises in the number of people making claims of harassment at Employment Tribunals. If the complaint is serious, high damages may be awarded against the Employer, so it is important for the Employer to take seriously any allegation of harassment at an early stage and take steps to quickly resolve it. There is also legislation in place to be able to deal with discrimination, and this legislation is distinct to that provided under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Race Relations Acts.

There 'must be a course of conduct, that is to say conduct on at least two occasions.' where the defendant was in a volatile relationship with the claimant. The court 'required proof of a course of conduct,' the defendant published the claimant's address and number, however, the wife of the claimant also suffered distress and alarm resultant of this. The court held that although the husband was the target of the harassment, the wife could also sue because it was foreseeable that she too would have been harassed by the defendant's conduct.

An employer is liable, as is the case for many other acts, for the actions of their employees during the course of employment. Though it would be relatively easier to prove that a manager or supervisor to the recipient could be guilty of harassing "during the course of employment", it may require more proof if the harasser is in a subordinate position. Employers can avoid liability for discriminatory harassment if they can prove that they took such steps that were reasonably practical to prevent harassment from occurring. However, employers cannot use this defence to a claim of harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, under which they will have vicarious liability for the actions of their employees.

The United Kingdom has a "rag bag of statutes" relating to harassment.

Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 creates the offence of harassing a contract debtor.

The marginal note to section 1 of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 refers to "harassment of occupier".

Section 4A of the Public Order Act 1986, inserted by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, creates the offence of intentional harassment, alarm or distress. Section 5 creates the offence of harassment, alarm or distress.