Do “Religiously Orientated” Swear Words Amount To Harassment?

Under s.26 of the Equality Act 2010, harassment is defined as:

“unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic that has the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual.”

The protected characteristics referred to by this definition include age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, and sex and sexual orientation. (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/26)

In the case of M v P Care Home Ltd and others, M brought a claim against her employer for religious harassment. In particular, regarding the regular use of swear words in her presence that included phrases such as “Jesus f*****g Christ” and “oh my f*****g God.”

Background

The claimant M, was a registered nurse who had been employed at the care home since January 2011. Following her dismissal in December 2012, M brought multiple claims against the care home including unfair dismissal and religious harassment. The basis of her complaint was that her manager ‘N’ regularly swore in front of M and her colleagues; most notably during morning and evening handovers. Occasionally, the swear words included the phrases highlighted above. As a practicing Christian, M took offence to this. It was, however, noted that this particular complaint was not raised until the disciplinary appeal.

Tribunal

With regards to the allegation of harassment, the tribunal accepted that there was no intention to harass M personally. It was recognised that the comments were not specifically directed at M, and noted that the manager used the same or similar language at times when indeed M was not present.

As it was established that any offense caused was unintentional, the tribunal had to consider a number of other factors before concluding whether or not harassment had taken place. This includes taking into account other circumstances of the case, as well as the perception of the claimant, and the question of whether it is reasonable for the conduct to amount to harassment.

When considering these points in line with the definition of harassment highlighted above; the tribunal concluded that it was not reasonable for M to perceive the language used by her manager as creating an adverse environment. Whilst they recognised that the comments may be blasphemous; they were also commonly used. It was felt that the remarks were not made directly in relation to M’s religion, and were not in themselves considered to be abusive to any religion.

(Finally it is worth noting that although the allegation of harassment was rejected; the claimant was awarded £18,417 for unfair dismissal.)