Setfords were instructed to pursue claims for common law bullying and harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 on behalf of two clients.
Our clients were, at the relevant time, in a fledgling relationship. This caused much gossip and intrigue amongst our clients’ colleagues, to the extent that our clients’ manager secretly recorded their conversations, using an app on his mobile phone, to see if he could find proof that they were in a relationship.
They discovered their manager’s mobile phone recording their conversation after he had left it suspiciously to go to use the bathroom.
When our clients confronted their manager, he admitted recording them and conceded that he had also done so on a previous occasion.
A claim for common law bullying and harassment was submitted under the Protection from Harassment Act. What was important in this case was that there were two accepted times when recordings were taken without our clients’ permission. This is what constituted the course of conduct required to bring a claim under the Act.
A claim was submitted on the low claims value portal, and an admission of liability was achieved in both claims.
For their common law bullying and harassment claim, our clients received damages awards of £6,250 and £5,000, respectively.
The difference in the damages awarded reflected the slight differences in our clients’ mental health injuries and their loss of earnings.
David Miers
Consultant Solicitor
T: 01513 180 329 or call 0330 058 4012
ext. 2696
E: dmiers@setfords.co.uk