Harassment at work

Harassment is defined as unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic eg race, religion, age etc which has the purpose or effect of violating someone’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.

Employers should ensure that staff know that they will be listened to if they raise any complaint, and that any concerns will be treated confidentially. Employers should encourage open conversations and listen to staff.

Where the matter raised relates to the conduct of a patient or third party, remember that you have a duty of care towards your staff member, to act in accordance with your duty of mutual trust and confidence and to provide a safe working environment. Remember that in the testing room in particular it is possible for a staff member to feel very vulnerable as the only person in the room with a patient.

With regard to patients specifically, ask staff what they would like to see and if they have any ideas about how to prevent these things or how to handle difficult patients. Make clear that you will support staff who raise complaints about patients’ conduct and that you will support them if they refuse to answer personal questions that make them uncomfortable.

Listen to any complaints made and empathise. Do not dismiss their complaints out of hand.

Do not pander to patients who seek to discriminate against staff, for instance by expressing a preference to see an optometrist of a certain ethnicity or gender. Consider ways of taking preventative action. You can have posters in the waiting room and testing room, reminding patients that staff must be respected and that any form of discrimination, abuse or harassment of staff will not be tolerated. If a patient is abusive or threatening or if they harass your staff, whether sexually or for other reasons, you should write to them asking them not to come to the practice again.

Our posters make it clear that as an equal opportunity employer you support the rights of staff not to have to answer personal questions, particularly about their ethnicity, race or nationality. Those questions from patients could in themselves amount to harassment related to race and should not be tolerated.

From October 2026 employers also have a positive duty to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. This duty will mean that from October 2026 employers are obliged to take “all reasonable steps” and not just “reasonable steps”.

In order to comply with this additional protection, employers should become familiar with the law and guidance on sexual harassment. They should also think inclusively when devising policies and procedures to make sure they are practical and that they cater appropriately for the needs and preferences of their workforce (link to our policies).

Further steps should include:

• Making it clear that any kind of discrimination will be dealt with as a disciplinary matter and that serious cases of deliberate discrimination may amount to gross misconduct resulting in dismissal
• Providing training to ensure people understand what equality and race and diversity mean is another important component of the employer’s duty
• Employers should ensure that all managers (and preferably all staff) have regular training in their obligations under the Equality Act 2010.

For confidential advice contact [email protected]