FCA Employee Handbook - Financial Conduct Authority

A single serious incident may amount to harassment.A person may be harassed even if they were not the intended “target” of the behaviour inquestion. For example, a person may be harassed by racist jokes about a particular ethnicgroup to which they do not belong provided the jokes create an offensive environment forthem.A person need not possess the relevant protected characteristic themselves, but may beharassed on the basis of their association with another person who has a protectedcharacteristic or on the basis of a perception that they have a protected characteristic(even if that perception is wrong).Conduct may amount to harassment even if there was no intention to offend. Provided theconduct has the effect of violating someone else’s dignity or creating an intimidating,hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them (even if that was not thepurpose of the behaviour), the behaviour will amount to harassment. Remember thatwhat one person may find funny may offend another but it makes no difference that noteveryone would find the conduct offensive. We all have different perceptions; it is up to theindividual to decide what they consider to be unwanted conduct.The FCA may in certain circumstances be liable for harassment of its employees by thirdparties such as clients or suppliers – namely where it knows that an employee has beenharassed by a third party in the course of their employment on at least two other occasions(whether or not the third party was the same person on each occasion) but it failed to takereasonable steps to prevent further harassment. This underlines the importance ofreporting to the FCA any incidences of harassment which you experience or witness.Examples of HarassmentHarassment may be physical, verbal or non-verbal. Examples of harassment may include but arenot limited to: unwanted physical contact ranging from touching to serious sexual or physical assault -invading someone’s personal space may amount to harassment; verbal conduct such as sexist, racist, ageist and/or homophobic comments or innuendo;derogatory remarks about any individual or group with a protected characteristic; offensiveslogans, insults, comments of a personal nature; suggestive remarks, nicknames,inappropriate ‘banter’, jokes or language; unwanted non-verbal conduct, including sexually suggestive behaviour and/or gestures,staring and leering, or other unwanted sexual attention or advances; the display, storage or circulation of offensive material (including information held on oraccessed by computer) by whatever means; conduct that threatens, ridicules, intimidates or abuses, undermines or undervalues anindividual including derogatory or degrading remarks or insults, offensive comments aboutappearance or dress, spreading malicious rumours; open aggression, obscenities, uncontrolled anger; belittling in front of others, persistent criticism or sarcasm; suggestions that sexual favours may result in career advancement or some other employmentbenefit (or that refusal of such suggestions may result in some form of detriment); or unfair treatment, which might include deliberately excluding someone from social activitiesbecause they have or are perceived to have a protected characteristic or associate with aperson who does.The above is by no means an exhaustive list and harassment may come in another form notshown here.BullyingThere is no specific legal definition of bullying but it is considered to be offensive, abusive,intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour and/or a misuse of power which makes the‘target’ feel upset, threatened, humiliated, vulnerable and/or undermined. Bullying can bedifficult to recognise as it may be subtle and not always face-to-face; for example, bullyingmay take place through social networking sites or via text messages and it tends to be morethan one single act carried out over a period of time.FCA Employee Handbook 2013 51