Harassment and sexual harassment at work in Ireland: your rights and the WRC claim

Harassment at work is where bullying and discrimination meet, and the law treats it more seriously than bullying on its own. If the behaviour is linked to one of the nine equality grounds, or is of a sexual nature, it is discrimination under the Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2015, your employer may be liable for it, and the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) can award compensation of up to 104 weeks' pay. This guide explains the definitions, the employer's defence, what to do, and the six-month clock.

The nine grounds

The Employment Equality Acts protect you from discrimination on nine grounds: gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race (which covers colour, nationality and ethnic origin) and membership of the Traveller community. Discrimination at work: the nine grounds covers the wider law. Harassment is the part of it that deals with conduct rather than decisions.

The link to a ground is what separates harassment from bullying. Being shouted at every day is bullying under the Code of Practice (S.I. No. 674/2020) and has no free-standing WRC claim. Being shouted at every day with remarks about your age, your accent, your religion or your pregnancy may be harassment, which does. The bullying at work guide explains the bullying routes; this one explains the stronger route.

The two definitions

The Acts define the two forms separately, and the difference matters.

Harassment is any form of unwanted conduct related to any of the nine grounds which has the purpose or effect of violating your dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for you. Conduct includes acts, requests, spoken words, gestures, and the production, display or circulation of written words, pictures or other material.

Sexual harassment is any form of unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature which has the same purpose or effect. It does not need to be linked to any other ground.

Four things follow from the wording.

1. Unwanted is judged from your side. You do not have to have objected at the time, though it helps to show you did.
2. Purpose or effect. The person does not need to have meant to harass you. If the effect was to violate your dignity and create that kind of environment, the definition is met.
3. A single incident can be enough. Unlike bullying, there is no requirement that the conduct be repeated. One serious incident may meet the test.
4. The conduct can come from anyone you meet through work: a colleague, a manager, the employer, a client, a customer or a contractor. The employer is responsible for the workplace, not only its own staff.

Examples the WRC has dealt with

Reported decisions, which you can read on the WRC's decisions database, include comments about an employee's pregnancy, jokes about nationality or accent, mimicking a disability, remarks about a person's sexual orientation, unwanted touching, sexual comments and messages, pornographic material in the workplace, and persistent requests for dates after a refusal. Each decision turns on its own facts; what they share is a link to a ground, or a sexual nature, and an effect on dignity.

The employer's defence

The Acts make the employer liable for harassment by its employees and by third parties in the course of your work, unless the employer shows that it took reasonably practicable steps to prevent the harassment, to prevent you being treated differently because of it, and to reverse its effects.

In practice that means a dignity at work or harassment policy that staff know about, training, a clear way to complain, and a prompt and proper response when a complaint is made. An employer with no policy, or with a policy nobody has read, usually cannot make out the defence. An employer that has a policy and acts on it may be able to. This is why reporting matters: an employer that was never told cannot be faulted for not acting, and an employer that was told and did nothing has lost its defence.

What to do

Record

Write down what happened as soon as you can: date, time, place, what was said or done, who saw or heard it, how you reacted, how it affected you. Keep messages, emails and screenshots. Send yourself an email or keep a note on your phone so there is a dated record. If you told anyone at the time, note who.

Report

Find the policy. Most employers of any size have a dignity at work policy that names who to report to and what happens next. Report in writing, under the policy, and keep a copy. If the policy says to report to your manager and your manager is the harasser, report to whoever is named above them, or to HR, or to the owner. If the harasser is the owner, write to the company anyway, keep the letter, and go to the WRC; the internal route is not a condition of the claim.

Our letter builder drafts a formal complaint under a dignity at work procedure. The grievance procedure guide explains what to expect at the meeting.

The procedure

Expect an investigation along the lines of the bullying Code: both sides heard, the right to be accompanied, a written outcome, an appeal. Where the conduct is sexual harassment or an assault, the employer should also consider separating you from the person while it investigates. A suspension of the person complained of is the employer's decision, not yours.

The Gardaí

Where the conduct is a crime (assault, sexual assault, threats, stalking), you can report it to the Gardaí. A Garda complaint and a WRC complaint are separate. One does not stop the other, and the WRC clock keeps running during a Garda investigation.

The WRC claim

You complain to the WRC under the Employment Equality Acts using the online complaint form. There is no fee. The main points are these.

The six months run from the date of the act. Where harassment is ongoing, the clock runs from its most recent occurrence, but do not rely on that: an adjudicator may treat separate incidents separately, and an old incident on its own may be out of time. Use the WRC deadline tool to work out your date, and read how to make a WRC complaint for the form. No ES1 form is needed; that form belongs to the Equal Status Acts, which cover goods and services, not employment.

Compensation

The WRC can order compensation of up to two years' pay (104 weeks) for the effects of the discrimination, and it is not tied to financial loss alone, so an award can be made where you kept your job. It can also order the employer to take a specified course of action, such as adopting a policy or training staff. Where you were not an employee, for example a job applicant, the ceiling is €13,000.

Awards for harassment vary widely. The seriousness of the conduct, how long it went on, the effect on you, and whether the employer responded properly all feed into the figure. There is no tariff. Our awards register lists reported decisions so you can see the range adjudicators have used.

Victimisation

If you are treated badly because you complained, gave evidence, or supported a colleague's complaint, that is victimisation, which is a separate claim under the Acts with its own compensation. The protection covers complaints made in good faith, whether or not they succeed. A performance plan or disciplinary that appears right after a complaint is the pattern to watch for: see performance improvement plans.

If it is affecting your health

Harassment, and sexual harassment in particular, can have a long tail. See your GP; a certified absence is sick leave and the stress leave and mental health guide covers pay and return. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre runs a 24-hour helpline for sexual violence. If things feel unmanageable, Samaritans are on 116 123 at any hour, free of charge.

Where this leaves you

Work out your date with the WRC deadline tool: six months from the most recent act, and the clock does not stop while an internal process or a Garda investigation runs. If you are in a union, ring them first; a union official will handle the complaint and the hearing for free (find your union). Harassment claims are among those where a solicitor earns their fee, because the award can be large and the employer will usually be represented (find a solicitor).