Workplace Bullying and Harassment Grievance Complaint Letter – Toxic Work Environment

This page last updated 8.8.26.

Are you being subjected to a toxic work environment or toxic workplace and want to know what to do?

My wife Amy & I are employment consultants with 26 years combined experience assisting clients like you!

We work for the employee, not for the employer.

Amy & I have created some new webpages for 2026 for you to look at:

Read This First!
Don’t use AI to write your grievance letter.
15 steps to take before you write your grievance letter.
20 Tips on writing your grievance letter.
Free grievance letter example for ‘work-related stress, bullying, harassment and discrimination’.
What not to say in a grievance meeting.
How to win a grievance appeal.

We know all too well what you are presently going through, as Amy and I took our own employers to the Employment Tribunal due to being subjected to a toxic work environment caused by bullying and harassment. As such, we have already walked the path, which you now tread.

After suing our employers, Amy & I created this website in 2011 to help employees like you to understand their employment rights UK.

Over the last 15 years, we have helped thousands of clients resolve their employment disputes with their employer.

Word of Caution:

Do NOT use AI to generate your grievance letter

What is Harassment and how is it different to Bullying?

When writing a grievance letter to your employer’s HR Department you can’t say that you have been subjected to ‘unfair treatment’. You have to establish whether you have been (1) harassed; (2) bullied; (3) discriminated against. Please visit our webpage on the top 20 tips on how to write a grievance letter.

If you have been discriminated against, then you need to establish whether the treatment amounts to ‘less favourable’ treatment or ‘unfavourable’ treatment. We have written a page on unfair treatment at work.

If you want to know the steps to take on how to write a grievance letter on bullying and harassment in the workplace, please visit our web page on bullying and harassment, and also visit our free grievance letter example.

The difference between harassment and bullying is easy to explain i.e. harassment is on what is called a ‘protected ground’.

A ‘protected ground’ is ‘related to’ your age, race, disability, sex, sexual orientation, religion, marriage etc, under the Equality Act 2010.

Examples of a Toxic Work Environment Unlawful Harassment:

If someone came up to you at work and said – “Debbie, you have a nice pair of tits” that would be harassment ‘related to’ your sex.

If you are black and somebody said – “you bloody n*****” that would be harassment ‘related to’ your race.

If you are old and someone said – “you are a dinosaur mate” that could potentially be harassment ‘related’ to your age.

If someone at work says – “all you Muslims are terrorists” that would be harassment ‘related to’ you religion.

Put short, if the conduct is ‘related to’ your sex, age, race, religion, etc, then it amounts to ‘harassment’.

However, if the conduct is NOT ‘related to’ your sex, sexual orientation, age, race, disability, religion, etc, then it amounts to ‘bullying’.

Bullying and harassment creates a toxic work environment and a toxic workplace.

Either way, whether you have been bullied or harassed it is what you find to be offensive or undignified that is important. For the avoidance of doubt, it is not what your employer or its HR Department determines what is offensive to you. The Employer has to take into consideration the injury caused to ‘your’ feelings as the complainant. Thus, when writing a letter of grievance to the HR Department make sure you state how you felt and/or are feeling. Remember, injury to feelings can pay out up to £60,700.

Bullying and Harassment can also be referred to as ‘unwanted conduct’. So, in your letter of grievance to HR you might want to say something like this –

“The unwanted conduct I have been subjected to was both ‘uninvited and unwelcome. It has created a hostile, oppressive, intimidating and toxic working environment”.

For the avoidance of doubt, bullying and/or harassment does not have to be ‘related to’ you personally. If you are at work and you witness someone else bullying or harassing another person, then the law takes that into consideration that it could still cause injury to ‘your’ feelings even if you were not, per se, the victim of the bullying or harassment yourself.

Example of Harassment in The Workplace:

You are Asian and work with other Asians within a Department of the Company. A non-Asian person says to one of your work colleagues – “You people are all the same”. That potentially amounts to harassment ‘related to’ your race by reason that ‘you’ found the statement undignified even though it was not aimed at you personally.

The EHRC Statutory Code of Practice on Employment 2011 (Chapter 7) covers harassment in more detail. It also provides other examples of harassment.

Please visit our webpage on the top 20 tips on how to write a grievance letter, which webpage outlines the steps to consider when raising a grievance letter for (i) work-related stress, bullying, harassment and discrimination.

The Equality Act 2010 – Definition of Harassment at Work

The Equality Act 2010 defines “harassment as: “unwanted conduct” which must have the “purpose or effect” of:

“Violating the victim recipients dignity” or:-
“Creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for the victim recipient”.

In the authority of Miss E Carozzi v (1) University of Hertfordshire (2) Ms A Lucas: [2024] EAT 169 the Employment Appeal Tribunal made the following observation at paragraph 11:

“I will refer to “violating dignity” compendiously to include creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment.”

If you believe you have been bullied and/or harassed, then make sure that you state so in your letter of grievance to your employer’s HR Department. Equally as important, you MUST state in your letter of grievance to HR how your harasser’s “unwanted conduct” made you “feel”. This is the most important thing you can do as ‘injury to feelings’ on the Vento Scale can payout 60,700 in the Employment Tribunal.

Section 26 of the Equality Act 2010, is for harassment related to a ‘protected characteristic’, viz: race, disability, religion, sex, sexual orientation etc,.

The incidents of bullying or harassment do not need to be connected. The harassment does not have to be by the same person either. Therefore, it is essential that within your letter of grievance for workplace bullying and harassment that you outline how the bullying or harassment has made [you] feel.

Where your employer fails to take reasonable and practicable steps to prevent further disruption and harassment, your employer may be vicariously liable pursuant to s.109(1)(2)(3)(4)(a)(b) of the EqA 2010 (Equality Act 2010) – Caniffe v East Riding of Yorkshire Council (2000, IRLR 555, EAT).

In fact, the person whom subjects you to harassment could be personally liable for their harassment of you.

Under s.110(1)(a)(b)(c)(2) of The EqA 2010, the individual whom harasses you can be named as an additional named respondent in civil proceedings.

Under s.111 of The EqA 2010, a person must no ’cause, instruct or induce’ another person to harass you and/or discriminate against you. This is very important where workplace mobbing occurs.

Under s.112(1) of The EqA 2010, a person must not “aid” another to harass you.

If you need help in writing a letter of grievance for bullying, harassment and/or discrimination, then get in contact with us at – samandamy@pm.me

Amy & I work 9-5 UK time Monday to Sunday. You can reach us on: 07775943414

We work 7 days a week.

Having personally been the victim recipients of bullying and harassment at work, Amy & I know first hand how it leads on to a diagnosis of work related stress, anxiety, anxiety attacks and depression being made by your GP. We know, because we have already walked in your shoes, not once, not twice, but three times! This is why Amy & I have created this website to assist people like you to know your employee rights UK.

Sometimes people come to us who are so down trodden by their employer that they can’t even put a grievance letter together to their employer. This is where my wife Amy & I can help you. Please read our testimonials page!

Employment Tribunal – Balance of Probabilities

In truth, it is rare that an employee will have ‘evidence’ of bullying / harassment at work, to which s/he has been subjected. Harassment in the workplace is usually subtle, the harasser careful to make sure there are no witnesses to workplace bullying.

Fortunately, Employment Tribunals recognise this, and take it into account. However, the burden of proof under s.136 EqA 2010 is on you.

Your letter of grievance for harassment and workplace discrimination should outline a prima facie case against your employer, and those persons whom have subjected you to bullying, harassment and/or discrimination.

A poorly written letter of grievance for bullying and harassment will be rubbished by your employer, its HR Department and the Company’s solicitors.

On the other hand, a well written letter of grievance for bullying and harassment will not get rubbished!

It is my own experience that workplace harassment occurs due to mismanagement, poor management, or weak management. Often, senior management have little resolve to confront the harasser, or more likely than not, are the harasser themselves.

In my own case I used my mobile phone to record and video my manager sexually harassing me at work. Please visit our webpage on making covert recordings.

I also asked my line manager why she acted in the manner she did towards me, and caught every word she said on my mobile telephone. Consequentially, I had hard evidence of the on-going harassment. I also got another employee to video my line manger sexually harassing me on his mobile telephone at a works do. Believe me, when it comes to harassment, a picture paints a thousand words!

The upshot of the video and audio evidence was that I was able to support my letter of grievance with hard evidence. However, using your mobile is not always possible, and in these situations you could visit the Spy Shop on-line and purchase one of those ‘spy pens’. This is a great device for 1 to 1 meetings where your line manager is no longer giving you the support you need. It is also great for meetings with Human Resources, whether performance, capability or disciplinary.

Note: Amy & I have also created a webpage on the next steps after you have raised your grievance letter, and how to prepare for a grievance meeting with your employer.

As such, unless your Company has a policy or procedure which forbids making covert recordings in the workplace, then it is fair play. However, be careful making covert recordings. Your employer could argue that you have breached the implied term of mutual trust and confidence by making covert recordings.

Place the Onus on your Employer

Should you chose to lodge an Employment Tribunal claim due to workplace harassment or discrimination in the workplace, the onus is on the employee to establish facts, that “on the balance of probabilities” what you have alleged in your ET1 [employment tribunal claim] has actually occurred. This is different to let’s say a criminal trial, whereas “beyond a reasonable doubt” has to be established.

The Employment Tribunal recognises that the employer will unlikely “concede” any liability of the alleged “torts” (wrongs). The employer will attempt to establish that the claimant’s claim does not have any “merit”. The employer will allege that your ET1 is “misconceived” throwing out as much as it can. Remember, the onus is on the employee to “shift the burden of proof “on to the employer pursuant to s.136 of the Equality Act 2010.

Free Grievance Letter Examples

Below are two examples of a hypothetical incident of ‘sexual harassment in the workplace’. Another more in depth letter of grievance example germane to work related stress, harassment and disability discrimination is available at www.formalgrievance.com.

The first grievance example is a bad example of what to state within your letter of grievance, as it does not establish how you (the victim recipient) felt:-

“Mr Shart grabbed his crotch and told me he wanted to give me a large portion later. I was somewhat taken back, as my workplace colleagues just stood there laughing at me.”

Good grievance letter example:

“I found Shart’s conduct to be unwanted.I felt his actions were with deliberate intent, the purpose and effect to embarrass me, which is how he made me feel. I found Shart’s statement that he wanted to give me a large portion to be offensive, and most undignified. The fact that my workplace colleagues just stood there laughing at me humiliated me. Mr Shart’s conduct was wholly inappropriate. I am not sure what made him believe that his behaviour was acceptable to me. However, I felt by my colleagues laughing at me, they condoned Shart’s unwanted conduct”

In the good example above, the wording encompasses the legal definition of “harassment”. You have informed your employer that (i) you found Shart’s conduct unwanted (ii) you felt embarrassed (iii) you found Shart’s conduct to be offensive and undignified (iv) you have established the fact that you felt humiliated (v) that in no way did you encourage Shart to behave in the manner he did; Shart acted of his own volition, and of his own accord (vi) you felt your colleagues condoned Shart’s unwanted conduct by their failure to stop him.

In the good example of harassment in the workplace, you have made it difficult for your employer to point the finger of blame at you, as to do so may amount to the employer subjecting you to a “detriment” for having exercised a statutory right in lodging a letter of grievance, viz: victimisation.

Workplace Banter

Speaking from our own personal experiences, your employer will undoubtedly seek to place some portion of the blame on to you, to both limit its liability, and discredit you. Your employer will contend that you were horsing around, and that Shart’s conduct was merely ‘harmless banter’, viz: ‘colloquial’. The employer may even insinuate that you in someway encouraged Shart’s behaviour, and that Shart was only reacting to you ‘egging him on’ in front of your workplace colleagues. Notwithstanding, unless you are able to ‘establish facts’ from which the Employment Tribunal could conclude that harassment has taken place, your claim is worthless. This is why it is so very important that you get your ducks in a row before you lodge your letter of grievance.

This is why we have created the following new webpages for 2026:

Don’t use AI to write your grievance letter.
15 steps to take before you write your grievance letter.
20 Tips on writing your grievance letter.
Free grievance letter example for ‘work-related stress, bullying, harassment and discrimination’.
What not to say in a grievance meeting.
How to win a grievance appeal.

Webmaster’s thoughts:

When it comes to work harassment, the law is quite clear. It is what you find to be offensive, undignified, embarrassing, degrading, hostile or intimidating. It is NOT for your employer to decide how you felt. Each person knows what they feel is “harmless banter” and also, the behaviour which is not acceptable to them.
You need a plan of action. Gather all the evidence and facts before you lodge your grievance letter. Once the grievance procedure is invoked, your employer will appoint an investigating officer who will endeavour to limit the organisations liability. Remember, the appointed investigator is there to protect the organisation – not you! You will have no control over the appointed investigator, or the questions s/he will ask your workplace colleagues, or how that person goes about investigating what you have alleged. Keep in mind the investigator is also an employee, and will not jeopardise their own career by finding any”evidence” of harassment, which may have occurred.
So, before your invoke the grievance procedure, obtain ‘witness statements‘ from your colleagues where possible. You want short statements, giving the date, the time, the place, what the harasser stated, and who else was present. Get the person to sign and date their witness statement, and provide their name and address.
From our own experiences, your colleagues will put as much distance between you and them once the grievance investigation gets underway. They will not want to become embroiled in your grievance, or risk losing their own job – forewarned is forearmed!

If you can’t face the grievance process alone and would like to discuss your workplace issues with us, please reach out to us. Sometimes, just talking through your employment issues can give you a new perspective on what to do, and furthermore, how to go about doing it. We can write your grievance letter for you. We can hold your hand throughout the grievance process from beginning to end. We can assist you in avoiding the common mistakes, which we see employees make when writing a grievance letter to their employer, and moreover, when going through the grievance process with their employer. You don’t have to be alone in this process. Reach out to us on 07775943414 or email us at samandamy@pm.me

We work 7 days a week 9-5 UK time. We know your employment problems don’t just end on a Friday afternoon! Go on, pick up the phone and call us!

Legal Definition of Harassment

The legal definition of harassment under S.26 of the Equality Act 2010 is the following:

“Unwanted conduct” which must relate to one of the following “protected characteristics”:

sex
sex orientation
race
disability
age
gender
marriage and civil partnership
gender reassignment
religion.

The “unwanted conduct” must have the “purpose or effect” of:

violating the victim recipients dignity, or
creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for the victim recipient.

In truth, it is not hard to establish that the “harassment” (unwanted conduct) has “violated” your “dignity”.

In nearly every case of “harassment” it will be viewed by the complainant as having been, or had the “effect of” either being “degrading, humiliating, offensive or hostile”.

The key is that you MUST tie the harassment in to one of the aforementioned “protected characteristics”.

For what it is worth, pursuant to s.110(a)(b)(c)(2) of the Equality Act 2010, the harasser can be held personally liable for their own conduct in harssing you. Within your letter of grievance, I would inform your employer that they need to warn your harasser in writing to desist harassing you further; otherwise the Company would leave you no choice but to name your harasser as an additional named respondent in any Employment Tribunal proceedings. This usually puts the fear of God into the employer and the harasser, as the last thing the employer wants is to be held vicariously liable for the harassment pursuant to s.109(1)(2)(3)(4)(a)(b) of the Equality Act 2010.

Moreover, if the employer fails to take reasonable steps to prevent others employees’ from harassing you (google workplace mobbing) then the employer could be liable for inducing, causing, and aiding contraventions pursuant to s.111 of the Equality Act 2010. If you need a custom letter of grievance drafting to your employer, then contact us. There is nothing like a bit of law and a few case precedents quoted within your letter of grievance to bring your harasser to their senses!

If you believe that you have been “harassed” due to either your sex, sexual orientation or sexual nature, then click here:

If you believe that you have been “harassed” due to having a disability, then click here: You may be surprised as to what legally constitutes having a “disability”. I strongly suggest you read this section, as you may have a disability, which you were unaware is a legally recognised as a disability. The following are legally recognised disabilities, which employment tribunals recognise. However, the list is not exhaustive!

If you want to book a consultation to speak with us, email us at samandamy@pm.me or call us on 07775943414. Amy & I work 7 days a week because we know that your stress does not just stop on weekends. We only charge £35 for an initial telephone consultation up to one hour.

The pages on this website are here to help you know your employment rights.

You don’t have to go through the grievance process alone! We are here to help you. Amy & I can assist you in avoiding the pitfalls and common mistakes which we see employees make.

You only get one chance to get your grievance letter right, so make sure you do just that!

My wife Amy and I have over the past 15 years helped thousands of clients address their grievances with their employers. Please read our testimonials page. Amy & I can assist you in writing a grievance letter for any of the following work-related matters:

Go on, pick up the phone and call us to arrange a telephone consultation on 07775943414.

We work 7 days a week (9-5 UK time) because we know that your employment problems don’t just end on a Friday afternoon!

We only charge £35 up to one hour for the initial consultation and £50 an hour thereafter.

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