TYPES OF WORKPLACE HARASSMENT

The workplace harassment epidemic has been exposed. Do you know what to look for and
what to do about it? It seems like every week a new company is in the news for a workplace
harassment scandal. When the knowledge that they mishandled, ignored, or didn’t
recognize the harassment issues, these companies not only earn a poor reputation, but
often must pay financially, too.

The franchisee is also required to implement new harassment and discrimination policies,
improve training reporting procedures, and use a third-party investigator to handle
complaints..

By the end of this guide, you will be able to identify the most common types of workplace
harassment and how they might intersect. Plus, we’ve got three expert harassment
prevention tips to help you protect both your employees and organization.

# Discriminatory Harassment
All unlawful workplace harassment is discriminatory in nature. But, unlike verbal or
physical harassment, discriminatory harassment is defined by its intentions instead of how
it’s carried out. In this case, the bully is harassing the victim because, at least in part,
they’re a member of a protected class. Protected classes include sex/gender, age, race,
religion, colour, national origin, and physical and mental ability. The more common and
recognizable forms of discriminatory harassment are described in more detail below.

1. Racial Harassment
A victim may experience racial harassment because of their race, skin colour, ancestry,
origin country, or citizenship. Even perceived attributes of a certain ethnicity (e.g. hair
texture, skin colour, accent, food, use of certain slang or other words, customs, beliefs,
holidays or celebrations, clothing) may be the cause. Racial harassment often looks like:

• Use of slurs in general or directed at the victim

• Insulting or degrading comments about the victim’s race or a race as a whole
• Sharing of racial jokes, “memes,” or images
 • Acting disgusted to be around the victim (e.g. refusal to share a cubicle; acting
grossed-out by the victim’s cultural foods brought for lunch)
• Intolerance of differences

2. Ability-Based Harassment
Ability-based harassment is a type of workplace harassment directed towards individuals
who either:

• Live with a disability (physical or mental) themselves

• Are acquainted with a person or people with a disability
• Use disability services (e.g. sick leave or workers’ comp)

A person with a disability may experience harassment in the form of harmful teasing,
patronizing comments, refusals to reasonably accommodate, or isolation.

3. Age-Based Harassment
A person facing age-based harassment might be:

• Teased and insulted, especially referencing age-based stereotypes

• Left out of social activities, projects, or meetings
• Unfairly criticized for limited skills in a certain area

Unfortunately, this harassment is sometimes an attempt to wrongfully push the individual

into early retirement/resignation. If done to a younger employee, it could discourage them
enough that they change teams or even employers all together.

# Personal Harassment
Personal harassment is a form of workplace harassment that’s not based on one of the
protected classes (such as race, gender, or religion). It often targets something about the
victim’s work, personality, or looks, but can also be generalized behaviour that offends the
victim, such as telling an off-colour joke. Put simply, it’s bullying in its most basic form. It’s
technically not illegal, but can be damaging nevertheless.

Workplace Harassment Examples (Personal):

 • Inappropriate or rude comments
• Offensive jokes
• Personal humiliation
• Overly critical remarks
• Ostracizing behaviours
• Intimidation tactics
• Or any other behaviour that creates an intimidating and hostile work environment
for the victim. What matters most is that the victim felt they were being harassed,
not the other person’s intentions with their behaviour.

# Physical Harassment
Physical harassment, often called workplace violence, is workplace harassment that
involves physical attacks or threats. In extreme cases, physical harassment may be
classified as assault. Physical gestures such as playful shoving or a soft punch to the
shoulder can blur the line between appropriate or not. The person on the receiving end gets
to decide whether the behaviour makes them uncomfortable. In order to more clearly
define that line, physical harassment should be taken very seriously in the workplace and
explained thoroughly in codes of conduct and policies.

Workplace Harassment Examples (Physical):

• Direct threats of intent to inflict harm

• Physical attacks (kicking, hitting, shoving)
• Threatening behaviours (shaking fists angrily)
• Destroying property to intimidate

# Power Harassment
Power harassment is a common form of workplace harassment that’s characterised by a
power disparity between the harasser and the victim. The harasser exercises their power by
bullying a victim who is lower on the office hierarchy. In many cases, the harasser is a
supervisor or manager who victimizes their subordinates.
Power harassment isn’t limited to a certain type of behaviour. It can be verbal in the form of
intimidation or physical in the form of acts of violence. Often it’s psychological. The
harasser subjects the victim to:

Workplace Harassment Examples (Power):

• Excessive demands that are impossible to meet

• Demeaning demands far below the employee’s capability
• Intrusion into the employee’s personal life
• Forcing them to do things outside the scope of their job (e.g. personal errands,
working excessive hours, sexual favours)

# Psychological Harassment
Psychological harassment has a negative impact on a person’s psychological well-being.
Victims of mental harassment at the workplace often feel put down and belittled on a
personal level, a professional level, or both. The damage to a victim’s psychological and
mental health often creates a domino effect, impacting their physical health, social life,
and work life.

Workplace Harassment Examples (Psychological):

• Isolating or excluding the victim or denying the victim’s presence

• Belittling or trivialising the victim’s thoughts or ideas
• Discrediting or spreading rumours about the victim
• Opposing or challenging everything the victim says
• Gaslighting the victim
• Promoting an overly competitive or hostile work environment

# Retaliation
Retaliation harassment, usually just referred to as retaliation, is an often-overlooked type
of workplace harassment. Retaliation occurs when a person harasses someone else to get
revenge and to prevent the victim from behaving in such a way again. This can be in
response to anything from a comment the harasser didn’t agree with, the victim being
promoted instead of the harasser, or the victim reporting the harasser for something (such
as fraud, unethical behaviour, or other forms of harassment). Retaliation can take any of
the harassment forms, including physical, psychological, mental, or even sexual.

What Does Retaliation Harassment Look Like?

Most often, this type of harassment has three parts:

• Anshumaan raised an issue about power harassment by D. K. Pareek

• D. K. Pareek finds out about the complaint.
• D. K. Pareek harasses & abuses Anshumaan to get revenge and raised fraud
complaints about him to the higher management and uses powers to defame him
and put mental stress on him.

D. K. Pareek, in this case, would be harassing Anshumaan as retaliation.

# Verbal Harassment
Verbal harassment can be the result of personality conflicts in the workplace that have
escalated beyond the casual eye roll. Unlike discriminatory types of harassment (such as
racial), verbal abuse is often not illegal. Instead, verbal harassment occurs when someone
is consistently mean or unpleasant, especially when that behaviour is directed toward their
co-workers. For this reason, verbal harassment can be particularly damaging, as it might go
unnoticed and unresolved.

Workplace Harassment Examples (Verbal):

Obvious verbal harassment behaviours include publicly or privately:

• Threatening
• Yelling
• Insulting
• Cursing
• Intimidating
• Criticising

If any of these comments are aimed at someone in a protected class (because of their
membership to that class), the behaviour is unlawful.
Negative Effects of Verbal Abuse:

• Feelings of shame and guilt

• Loss of passions
• Negative obsession with work even on days off
• Increase blood pressure and other physical symptoms

The majority of the people believe in the typical notion that harassment at the office can be
sexual nature only. But this not the case generally various workplace harassment can be
classified as below:

There is no specific law which enacts to deal with mental harassment in the workplace, but
there are some laws that deal with some of the grounds such as:

• NO BIASED DEDUCTION OF WAGES OR REMUNERATION – Section 7-13 of the

Payment of the Wages Act, 1936 states that when deductions are to be made and up
to what extent deductions can be made for employees both men and women.
• EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK – Equal Remuneration Act 1976 states that every
employee whether men or women should receive the same remuneration for work
of similar nature.
• DEFAMATION – To demean and libel is to damage the reputation or image of an
individual. Sec 500 of INDIAN PENAL CODE states punishment for defamation and
suit can be filed as civil wrong as per the provisions of Law of torts.
• UNREASONABLE CLAUSES IN THE EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT – Industrial
Disputes Act, 1947 regulates the employment contracts and no discrimination is to
be made for men and women.
• NO SEX DISCRIMINATION IN PROVIDING WAGES – According to Article 39(d) of
the Constitution and Section 2(h) of the Equal Remuneration Act 1976, it is the duty
of the employer that every employee whether male or female should be provided
with equal remuneration for work of similar nature.

Furthermore, harassment of employees at the workplace contravenes their right to live with
human dignity as laid down by our constitution. Hence, Article 42 and Article 43 of the
constitution give direction for the state to provide provisions securing just and secure
conditions of employment.