“Is this sexual harassment?”
That’s the title of a social experiment aired by the BBC, where a group of 20 people aged 18-30 were invited to discuss whether a woman was subjected to sexual harassment at work.
Unaware of the legal definition of sexual harassment, the group were shown a video and discussed amongst themselves at various points what had happened, before deciding whether the woman had been harassed by her colleague.
After being told what legally constituted sexual harassment, a lot of the group changed their minds. Does this display a lack of awareness amongst the general public
Kat and Ryan
The video focussed on bar duty managers Kat and Ryan.
Over the course of several weeks, Ryan has a number of interactions with Kat, including:
- Leaning over Kat when she’s on the computer (ostensibly to help her)
- Complimenting her on her perfume
- Referring to him as being “the brains” and her “the beauty”
- Encouraging her to drink after work
- Putting his hands on her back and moving them down to her waist
- Trying to kiss her after work, then within minutes of being rejected contacting HR to inform them of problems with her work which lead to her dismissal.
The fictional tribunal accepted that Kat has been sexually harassed. They said that Ryan created an unwanted atmosphere and had the purpose or effect of violating her dignity or creating an environment that is intimidating, degrading, hostile or humiliating or offensive to Kat.
The statutory defence
Employers can avoid liability by demonstrating all reasonable steps have been taken to prevent harassment or discrimination. These steps must include:
- Having a policy that staff know about and have received training on
- Dealing effectively with complaints
- Taking appropriate disciplinary action against perpetrators.
Although the experiment didn’t address this, it was interesting to hear the comments made by the discussion group. Many initially viewed the issue through the prism of what they think is acceptable on a night out, rather than what’s acceptable in the workplace, with a couple of the men saying it was okay to “test the waters” to see if their colleague was interested in them sexually.
If we go back to our steps necessary to avoid liability, these comments suggest that they haven’t received adequate training about workplace harassment. If they had behaved in the same way as Ryan, which some of them thought was perfectly reasonable, their employers would not be able to rely on the statutory defence.
We can help
We deliver practical and interactive training to help your staff understand what is and isn’t acceptable behaviour in the workplace.
Please contact Kirsty Ayre to find out how we can help your organisation.
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