Being the target of bullying behaviour can cause abject misery as well as actual psychiatric injury. For practical advice on all aspects of bullying and harassment an essential site is Tim Field's site, bullyonline.org (and see further links on our Useful Links page)

Unless the bullying or harassment was related to sex, sexual orientation, race, religious belief, age or disability and therefore fell within the ambit of specific anti-discrimination legislation, it was very difficult to find a legal remedy. However, targets of bullying or harassment are now able to pursue another, potentially easier, route to claim compensation under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 following the decision in Majrowski -v- Guy's & St Thomas's NHS Trust  in which we represented the Claimant, Bill Majrowski. 

Originally intended to provide a remedy for those subjected to stalking, the Act made harassment a criminal offence and a statutory tort so giving individuals the right to sue if they were subjected to harassment. There is no specific definition of harassment beyond that it includes "alarming a person or causing a person distress". In the context of the criminal law, the Act had already been applied to a wide variety of situations far removed from stalking.

Bill's case confirms for the first time that the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 applies to the workplace and that employers may be liable for harassment committed by its employees. While bullying and harassment are of course different things, anyone who has been bullied is very likely to have been subjected to behaviour which would amount to harassment under the Act and could consider a claim.

The decision is critical as the Act gives Claimants a far more effective remedy than that offered by the traditional personal injury claim. There is no need to prove a recognised psychiatric injury (the Act gives a right to damages for distress and anxiety) and the time limit for bringing a claim is 6 years instead of 3. While many harassment claims relate to discrimination in the 'protected' grounds of sex, sexual orientation, race, age, religious belief or disability, the Protection from Harassment Act is not confined to those limited areas and so offers a remedy whatever the background to the harassment or bullying.

That said, it is important to realise that it risks being difficult to prove that events at work amount to harassment within the meaning of the Act. Conduct by managers is often said to be harassment or bullying but the Court is likely to find otherwise unless the conduct was very obviously unreasonable or there is evidence the behaviour was malicious or intended to cause distress.

Even if there is merit in a case, these claims are frequently hard fought and require a very detailed analysis of what usually comprises a great deal of oral and documentary evidence. As such cases take a long time to resolve and can be very expensive.

If you have been the target of bullying or harassment and would like a review of your case then please complete the online questionnaire and return this by post or email. We will also need sight of any supporting documents (please supply copies by post and not via email) and as much detail as possible about the conduct. For further guidance about this click here. We no longer offer a fixed fee service for this but will give you a firm quotation for the cost of reviewing your case on receipt of the papers.

Assuming you ask us to proceed, we will report back to you as soon as we can to advise on the merits of your case, the remedies which may be available and the terms on which we would able to represent you. Wherever possible we offer favourable terms of representation but owing to the nature of these cases please note it is very unlikely we will be able to offer 'No Win, No Fee' terms. Please refer to the costs page for more information about costs generally and click here for more specific information about the likely costs in harassment cases.