Parliament introduces bill to define bullying at work

A bill to define workplace bullying and introduce legal duties on employers to prevent it passed its first reading in Parliament on 11 July 2023.

Labour MP Rachael Maskell, who introduced the Bullying and Respect at Work Bill, said the UK has ‘failed millions of workers’ by neglecting to legislate standards for workplaces and provide remedies that do not require workers to resign or endure mistreatment for up to two years to claim they were forced to quit.

She cited research from the Trades Union Congress in 2019 that estimated one quarter of employees are bullied at work.

Most people who say they are bullied never report it, Maskell said.

‘What is the point if it exposes you further?’ Maskell told the House of Commons. ‘There’s no legal definition, no legal protection, no legal route to justice, and without protection, many will leave their employer’.

If adopted, the Bill would provide a legal definition of ‘bullying’ in the workplace for the first time in the UK.

Employees would be able to bring bullying claims to an employment tribunal and employers that fail to implement a statutory ‘respect at work code’ would face sanctions.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission would also have powers to investigate systemic bullying damaging workplace cultures.

Maskell said the Bill would mean the definition of bullying by the workplace mediator Acas as ‘offensive, intimidating, malicious, insulting or humiliating behaviour’ would be extended into statute and the usual method of determining compensation for injury to feelings would be applied.

But its main goal is establishing a minimum standard for workplace conduct and discouraging managers who use their power over colleagues to ‘denigrate and destroy’, Maskell said.

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