Harassment
Harassment is continuous unwanted attention or torment.
Legally harassment is defined as any act or contact that is unwelcome to you and is offensive, humiliating or intimidating to you. It can happen anywhere: in personal contact, chat rooms, texts, phone calls, letters, emails or though other people you know.
Harassment can be a look, violence, damage to your property, hurtful or insulting spoken and written words, threats or bullying. It also includes gestures, pictures, offensive facial expressions and displaying offensive calendars, screensavers, emails and so on.
Harassment is illegal and if it frightens or upsets you report it to the Gardaí or police. They can give the person a warning or injunction (a court order that prohibits things like approaching you, calling you or writing to you).
What to do if you're harassed:
It can be very difficult and even frightening to do something about harassment. It helps if you have support from a friend or colleague. Remember that you’re probably not the first person to be harassed or bullied by whoever’s doing it but you might be the first to complain. Look for support from other people in your situation or who’ve seen what’s happening to you.
If you are being harassed, bullied or intimidated by someone or a group of people:
- First make it clear to the person who is harassing you that it’s unacceptable and offensive. You can do that in person or in writing. Keep a copy of the email or letter.
- If this is too difficult or you’re frightened, ask a colleague or friend to support you and to be there when you talk to the person harassing you.
- Report the harassment to a manager, teacher, lecturer or someone in authority. If a boss, teacher or senior is harassing you then make the complaint to somebody else in charge.
- If the harassment continues make a formal complaint to your school, university, college or company. Write a letter of complaint with details of the harassment and make sure to keep a copy.
- Talk to a doctor if you’re suffering from stress because of the harassment. Get a medical report as proof of the damage to your health.
- An employer can’t punish you if you report them for harassment or discrimination. This means it’s illegal for them to fire you or treat you differently after you make a formal complaint.
- Contact a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Equality Commission in Northern Ireland or the Equality Authority in Ireland for advice.
Your Comments
There are no comments for this article yet, please leave one!
Login to leave a comment on this article
Login | Sign Up