What are bullying, harassment, victimisation and discrimination?

Bullying is deemed to have occurred when a person engages in offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour which intentionally or unintentionally undermines, humiliates, denigrates or injures the recipient of the behaviour. As with harassment, it is important to note that bullying may be deemed to have occurred even where there has been no intent.

Bullying is normally characterised by a pattern of behaviour. One off minor issues of impatience, preoccupation or lack of courtesy do not constitute bullying. In some circumstances, such as where physical or extreme verbal violence has occurred, isolated incidents of unwanted behaviour may be deemed to constitute bullying.

Bullying examples

Bullying may take place face to face, by writing or in written or electronic communications such as social media. Examples of the type of behaviour that may amount to bullying include:

• picking on people and unreasonably and persistently criticising their performance;
• public humiliation;
• unreasonable withdrawal of authority and responsibility;
• imposing unrealistic objectives and deadlines or changing objectives without reasonable justification;
• isolation or non co-operation at work or in class; exclusions from meetings, seminars or work-related social events etc;
• aggressive behaviour or conduct, physical or verbal;
• reacting to a minor issue with the same vehemence as a major one; or
• gossip, or making defamatory comments.

Harassment is deemed to have occurred when a person engages in unwanted conduct, potentially related to a protected characteristic of another person as defined by the Equality Act 2010, which has either the purpose or effect of violating another person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for the person.

The protected characteristics within the Equality Act 2010 are:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage or civil partnership (in employment only)
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

Every individual has the right to be free from harassment, as detailed in the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and the Equality Act 2010.

Whether a behaviour constitutes harassment depends on a range of factors, including the experience of the victim, the intent of the perpetrator, and the extent to which another person would consider the behaviour to constitute harassment. 

The University has in place a Respect at Work and Study policy which provides more information on harassment and sets our approach to tackling it. 

If you think you have been sexually harassed please visit our dedicated gender based and sexual violence pages.

Under the scope of the University Respect at Work and Study Policy, victimisation involves treating someone less favourably than another because:

• An individual has made a claim of harassment or bullying under this policy or a claim of discrimination under another policy.
• An individual has complained that they may have been discriminated against, harassed or bullied or that the University’s equal opportunities policies have been breached in some way.
• An individual has assisted another who is making such a claim, through providing evidence or some other form of support for the person.

Victimisation is entirely unacceptable behaviour that can have a detrimental effect on a work and study environment and may lead to reluctance to report acts of harassment or discrimination.

Victimisation Examples

Victimisation may take place face to face, by writing or in written or electronic communications. Examples of the type of behaviour that may amount to victimisation are similar to those contained under the bullying and harassment sections above.

Discrimination occurs if a person is treated unfairly because of who they are, or because someone thinks they belong to a group with protected characteristics, or if the unfair treatment happens because the person is associated with someone with a protected characteristic.

The protected characteristics within the Equality Act 2010 are:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage or civil partnership (in employment only)
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination by:

• employers;
• businesses and organisations which provide goods or services like banks, shops, and utility companies;
• health and care providers like hospitals and care homes;
• someone you rent or buy a property from like housing associations and estate agents;
• schools, colleges, and other education providers;
• transport services like buses, trains, and taxis; or
• public bodies like government departments and local authorities.

Discrimination by association

This is found to have occurred if someone is treated unfairly because they have people in their life with one of more of the protected characteristics and the person is discriminated against because of that. 

You can find further information on discrimination on the Citizens Advice Scotland website.