Harassment

Harassment, including bullying, can affect the well-being and performance of individuals and organisational performance.

The purpose of the Procedure for resolving complaints about harassment (including bullying) in the School, which should be read in conjunction with the Policy on Harassment (word), is to:

• make it clear that the School does not tolerate harassment;
• outline the responsibilities that each of us has;
• give typical examples of harassment, including bullying; and
• provide information on sources of help for complainants and alleged harassers.

All managers have the right to manage, and give constructive criticism about a mistake so that a person is aware of their error and can get it right in future. The line between strong management and bullying is crossed when such criticism is given in a negative way for example intimidating, upsetting, embarrassing, humiliating, or offending a person. Such behaviour is not acceptable.

There is commitment from the top to encourage a culture that does not tolerate harassment. This is shown by the involvement of the Deputy Directors in the appeal procedure.

The design of the procedure is to reach resolution as fairly and quickly as possible. To help impartiality, the Anti-Harassment Panel is available for informal and formal resolution. It is not expected that conveners or managers would resolve complaints.

Informal resolution is usually the first stage of the procedure to use because this is likely to be more successful and less stressful for all concerned than making a formal complaint. If informal resolution is unsuccessful, or is inappropriate because of the nature of the complaint, the formal procedure applies.

A member of the Anti-Harassment Panel carries out the investigation into a formal complaint and decides whether or not to uphold the complaint. A report, which includes the result, is submitted to the Human Resources Director.

The Human Resources Director takes action on the report. If a complaint is upheld, the disciplinary procedure for misconduct or gross misconduct is invoked. If a complaint is not upheld, training, counselling or a voluntary transfer is considered. 

Either the complainant or the alleged harasser may make an appeal in writing to the Deputy Director, if it is felt that the complaint was not treated seriously or the procedure was not correctly carried out.

The recognised trade unions and the School management respectively nominate members of the Panel to reflect the range of staff that work at the School. Each member of the Panel is given specialist training before giving advice or investigating formal complaints.

The submission of an annual report by the Panel to the Director provides the means to evaluate the effectiveness of the procedure. The report may also highlight any work organisation or staff issues that need to be addressed to discourage harassment.

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