Harassment

Harassment is distressing, worrying or annoying behaviour that’s usually carried out by someone in a powerful position, but not always. It’s against the law to harass someone on the grounds of an attribute, such as race, sex or age.

Examples of harassment:

• verbal attacks
• humiliation
• seriously embarrassing or teasing
• intimidating someone.

Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment is a type of discrimination. It involves unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favours or unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that offends, humiliates or intimidates. It has nothing to do with mutual attraction or friendship.

Examples of sexual harassment:

• suggestive behaviour
• staring or leering
• sexual jokes
• sexual propositions or asking for sexual favours
• unwanted invitations for dates
• sexual or physical contact such as touching, slapping or kissing
• insults or taunts based on a person’s sex
• sexually offensive gestures
• sexually explicit materials or emails
• intrusive questions about someone’s private life or body
• sexting.

Just one of these actions may be enough to constitute sexual harassment.

Statistics show it's usually men who sexually harass women. But sometimes women sexually harass men, men sexually harass other men, and women sexually harass other women.

Mutual attraction or friendship is not sexual harassment. If there is consent, it isn’t sexual harassment - although the behaviour might still be inappropriate for the  workplace.

Vilification

On 3 July 2023 there will be a new ground for complaint, offensive behaviour based on an attribute (vilification. This will cover all attributes under the law.

People must not do any act that is reasonably likely in all the circumstances to:

• offend
• insult
• humiliate   or
• intimidate

Another person or group of people because of an attribute of the other person, or the group, or some of the group.

The term 'offend' refers to offence of a serious nature.

It does not include acts done in private. An act is not done in private if it:

• causes words, sounds, images or writing to be communicated to the public
• is done in a public place
• is done in the sight or hearing of people who are in a public place

Public places include places to which the public have access by way of right or invitation, and whether or not there is a charge for admission.

This new ground does not include anything said or done reasonably in good faith:

• in the performance, exhibition or distribution of artistic work
• the course of any statement, publication, discussion or debate made for genuine academic, artistic  or scientific purpose or any other genuine purpose in the public interest
• the making or publishing of:
  • a fair and accurate report of any event or matter of public interest
  • a fair comment on any event or matter of public interest, if the comment is an expression of a genuine belief held by the person making the comment