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Read more articles in: Amanda Hyam, Blog, Employment Law
27 April 2026
Workplace humour is all fun and games until someone takes the joke too far.
Your employee’s light-hearted banter can become harassment when someone becomes uncomfortable.
Anyone aware of the incident, whether they were the target or not, has the right to raise the issue and it needs to be handled effectively.
The Equality Act 2010 explains harassment as unwanted conduct that violates someone’s dignity or creates an intimidating or hostile environment.
It also outlines the protected characteristics of:
Employers should advise against making a protected characteristic the subject of a joke, though it can be challenging to enforce this as a strict policy.
For employees, it is always worth considering who may hear a joke or banter and considering the impact it may have on them.
If a joke or remark is made about one of these characteristics and it causes distress, this is harassment.
Harassment can also be unlawful sexual comments or acts and experiencing less favourable treatment as a result of harassment.
Banter is not a free pass when the effect is harmful and the 2024 case of Matthew Davies v White Doves Garage proved this.
Matthew Davies was an employee at White Doves Garage, where he found himself regularly hearing his colleagues make inappropriate jokes about women, homosexuality and sex.
Davies decided to put a stop to this behaviour by bringing a claim to the employment tribunal for sexual harassment.
It did not matter that these remarks were not directly made to him, as he argued that they created an offensive and degrading working environment.
The tribunal agreed with his point and found that being within earshot of repeated inappropriate comments was enough to amount to harassment.
Employees may find it intimidating to raise a harassment claim, but this behaviour is not acceptable.
Managers and HR representatives should be ready to receive complaints.
They must be prepared to hear about the effects of the behaviour and how the employee would like things to change.
Many companies will to resolve the issue informally, but employees might have to raise a formal grievance if the issue continues or if the outcome is not felt to be appropriate.
Employers should have a clear procedure for raising a grievance and explaining concerns in writing so the issue can be investigated on behalf of the affected employee.
It’s always best to keep any communication and evidence stored in a safe place, just in case the situation escalates.
If an employee is still unhappy with the outcome of your claim and feels as though it has not been taken seriously, it can be taken to an employment tribunal.
Tribunal cases can be raised within three months of an incident and both the employer and employee will likely require legal support to ensure the process is productive.
Harassment in the workplace cannot be tolerated.
Employers have a duty to prevent such behaviour and we can help to create policies that achieves this goal.
Where harassment does occur, we can support you in understanding the formal grievance procedures and the employment tribunal.
We can also liaise with the other party on your behalf to help take some of the legal weight off your shoulders.
Ultimately, a clear awareness of respectable behaviour backed up with clear policy can reduce the likelihood of workplace harassment, so this should always be the focus.
Workplaces should be harassment free, so get in touch with our Employment Law team to protect your legal rights.
