HARASSMENT
POLICY
October 2004
Revised 27th March 2007
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HARASSMENT POLICY
GENERAL DETAIL
As an employer, Commercial Cleaning Services Ltd (CCS Ltd) has a moral
and legal responsibility to ensure that any form of harassment is prevented
and, if this is not possible, to respond effectively and promptly when a
complaint of harassment is raised. CCS Ltd expects that all staff will
themselves observe acceptable standards of behaviour and will encounter
very few problems of harassment within their working environment.
Employers who permit any acts of sexual, religious, racial or age based
harassment may find themselves liable under the Sex Discrimination Act
1975, the Race Relations Act 1976, and/or the Disability Discrimination Act
1995 and Employment Equality (Age) Regulations, (effective October 2006).
Harassment is a great source of stress to an individual, which can seriously
harm working and social conditions of staff and students. Any difficulty in
defining what constitutes harassment should not deter staff from seeking
advice or complaining of behaviour which causes them distress. Anyone who
feels they are witnessing or experiencing an incident of harassment should
talk to someone - either a friend, or a Manager.
DEFINITIONS
Timescales: For the purposes of this policy, one week is deemed to be
seven days, inclusive of weekends, but exclusive of statutory holidays and
concessionary days.
Representation: Parties to a harassment grievance may be accompanied at
any time through the process by an acknowledged staff representative, this
could include a member of a professional association, a trade union official,
or a work colleague of his/her choice. Due to the sensitivity of some cases
involving harassment, an employee may be represented by a personal friend
not acting in a professional capacity.
Director:
For the purposes of this policy, “Director” means a member of the board of
CCS Ltd
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OBJECTIVE
CCS Ltd is committed to providing an environment that is free of harassment.
No member of staff should have to worry about coming to work because of
the fear of harassment, bullying or abuse. CCS Ltd recognises that all forms
of harassment are unacceptable and will respect the particular sensitivity of
sexual, religious and racial harassment, bullying, age or any other form of
complaints and their consequences. Any incidents of harassment will be
regarded extremely seriously and may be grounds for disciplinary action,
which may include dismissal.
This policy aims to maintain an environment in which harassment is known to
be unacceptable and informs individual employees how a grievance about
harassment can be raised. It also identifies at what level such grievances are
heard, aiming to ensure that any such grievances are dealt with fairly and
consistently. The policy will apply to all members of staff, irrespective of
length of service or numbers of hours worked, and aims to be nondiscriminatory, being applied irrespective of sex, marital status, sexual
orientation, culture, religion, nationality, age, ethnic and national origins, or
disability.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
It is the perceptions of those who experience harassment rather than
the intentions of those accused of harassing which determines what
constitutes harassment.
There is not a single definition of harassment, but it can include behaviour
which is: unwanted/offensive to the recipient
 intimidating or threatening to the recipient
 likely to give rise to a hostile and restrictive environment
 Harassment can take the form of obvious racial or sexual harassment,
but can also include
 other forms, such as insults or bullying, unfounded criticism on
performance of work tasks, hostility based on age, disability etc.
CCS Ltd is responsible for ensuring that the Harassment Policy and related
procedures are applied fairly, consistently and promptly.
Both management and members of staff themselves may be hesitant to
address the issues of harassment given the sensitivity of the subject, or a
mistaken belief that no problem exists. Directors are available to provide
advice and support to any manager or member of staff with regard to
harassment. Trade Union officials are available to provide advice and support
to their members.
When a complaint has been made it will be investigated thoroughly and as
quickly as possible, ensuring that the rights of the alleged harasser are
protected as well as those of the complainant.
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If a member of staff feels unable to tackle the person concerned, this does
not constitute consent to the harassment nor will it prejudice any complaint
s(he) may bring.
The general principle should be that the decision to progress a complaint
rests with the individual. However, there may be exceptional situations in
which that principle has to be balanced against the employer’s statutory legal
obligations to ensure the general welfare of all employees.
Wherever possible, complaints of harassment should be dealt with informally.
This is likely to produce solutions which are effective, speedy and with the
minimum of embarrassment. Although CCS Ltd wishes to encourage staff to
exhaust all possible informal channels for the reasons stated above, it is not
the intention to discourage members of staff from recourse to formal
procedures.
GENERAL PROCEDURE
When a member of staff wishes to raise a harassment grievance, the
procedure outlined in the Grievance Policy should be followed. This policy
provides a procedural framework for raising problems informally and formally.
It is divided into three main stages: informal, formal and appeal. It is not
anticipated that all harassment grievances will go through all procedural
stages.
Whenever possible an informal solution should be sought, but there may be
some instances where it is appropriate to take formal action immediately.
One of the main aims of this policy is to make it possible for a member of staff
who finds it difficult or embarrassing to raise the problem directly with the
person creating the problem to seek support and/or advice from a third party
within the Company (eg a Director or a Trade Union Representative).
It is advisable that the complainant should keep a note of the alleged
harassment and details of the steps s(he) had taken to try to stop the alleged
harassment.
Any third party involved in a grievance is at liberty to make notes for future
reference. Where Directors are involved, unless expressly requested to the
contrary, they will make brief summary notes and place these on the
complainant’s personal file in case they are required in the future.
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