Cases regarding workplace bullying disguised as friendly ‘banter’ continue to appear in employment tribunals, new research shows.
According to research carried out by employment law firm, GQ|Littler, 66 claims were raised in the past year where comments from employees considered to be “banter” could be classified as bullying or harassment, especially in the case of discriminatory jokes relating to race, gender, nationality, or sexual identity.
Some examples of cases where banter has sought to be used as a defence in the past year included:
Comments made implying that an employee of Asian ethnic descent had a bomb in his bag.
When an employee was putting on lipstick, her colleague is alleged to have said “you know what they say about red lipstick.” When asked “what do they say?” her colleague replied that prostitutes wear it.
One team member texted “Hey ppl tomorrow we have Jerk chicken or curry chicken … Lets bring carnival into the office”. Another team member responded “If we are bringing carnival into the office who is bringing the drugs and knives?” – this comment was directed towards an employee of Afro-Caribbean background
One employee expressed that they were looking for someone to clean their house and suggested that their Eastern European colleague do the job “as he knew they would be able to do that kind of job and do it properly”
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