In recent years, there has been a rise in the use of words like
"banter" and "just kidding." This has been seen
not only in people's personal lives, but now in the workplace
too. This has led to the question of where exactly the line is
between sharing a joke with a colleague and inappropriate behaviour
that leads to someone feeling uncomfortable, even harassed. The
recent case of Hurley v East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust has shed
some light on this, and saw an award of £10,000 being granted
following a successful constructive dismissal claim based on this
question.
The claimant, Mrs Hurley joined the NHS trust in October 2016
and was immediately faced with a minimal amount of training for her
role as well as a difficult workload. Amidst these immediate
challenges and without adequate training, Mrs Hurley's workload
increased substantially when a colleague left which caused Mrs
Hurley such a significant amount of stress, she was signed off sick
from work.
