The issue of workplace bullying is an extremely serious one, due to the potential impact to employee’s physical and mental wellbeing. Unaddressed bullying in the workplace can create a hostile and toxic environment for all members of staff and can normalise inappropriate behaviours.
Employers owe their employees a statutory duty of care, and are obliged under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2005 to provide a safe place of work for their employees. If employers allow workplace bullying to continue once they are on notice of its existence, they may be in breach of the obligations under the 2005 Act.
The leading case in Ireland on workplace bullying is Ruffley v The Board of Management of St Anne’s School [2017] IESC 33. This case involved whether a disciplinary process against an SNA amounted to workplace bullying. The Supreme Court noted that there is no separate tort of bullying, but that it is a subspecies of the employer’s duty of care. The Supreme Court placed emphasis on the three key factors required for bullying.
1. Repeated behaviour
2. Inappropriate behaviour
3. Behaviour reasonably capable of undermining dignity at work
The Supreme Court emphasised that what is required in repeated incidents of inappropriate conduct undermining the individual’s dignity at work. These elements should be viewed together as opposed to as strictly separate issues. The Court defined ‘inappropriate behaviour’ as behaviour which is inappropriate at a human level. The following were given as examples inappropriate behaviour:
- undermining an individual
- targeting an individual for special negative treatment
- the manipulation of their reputation
- social exclusion or isolation
- intimidation
- aggressive or obscene behaviour
- jokes which are obviously offensive to one person
- intrusion by pestering, spying and stalking
The Health and Safety Authority in collaboration with the Workplace Relations Commission published in 2021 a Code of Practice for Employers and Employees on the Prevention and Resolution of Bullying at Work. This Code is a useful guide for both employers and employees regarding the identification, prevention, and resolution of issues around bullying in the workplace.
For the purpose of the Code Workplace Bulling is defined as
“Workplace Bullying is repeated inappropriate behaviour, direct or indirect, whether verbal, physical or otherwise, conducted by one or more persons against another or others, at the place of work and/or in the course of employment, which could reasonably be regarded as undermining the individual’s right to dignity at work. An isolated incident of the behaviour described in this definition may be an affront to dignity at work but, as a once off incident, is not considered to be bullying.”
Setanta Solicitors advise both employers and employees on employment law. Please contact us to schedule a no obligation consultation at info@setantasolicitors.ie or 01 215 0168
