Bullying & Harassment Policy

Drama Republic Limited (“DR”) desires to offer an environment where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. We do not tolerate bullying, harassment or victimisation. We have a duty of care to protect employees and contractors so we wish to make it a priority to support you if you experience problems with bullying or harassment whilst on one of our productions/employ.

This Policy explains the support available and how you can informally or formally address issues with bullying or harassment.

Who does the policy apply to?

We expect everyone to familiarise themselves with and adhere to the principles of this Bullying and Harassment Policy. In particular, you must behave respectfully towards others and never act in a way that could be regarded as bullying or harassment.

Acts of bullying or harassment are regarded as a serious disciplinary matter and could place your continued employment or engagement with DR at risk.

These principles extend to everyone working for or with DR including freelancers (contributors and actors), sub-contractors, agency workers, those taking part in our programmes, visitors and guests. DR employees are expected to comply with the Bullying and Harassment Policy and process.

What is bullying and harassment?

Bullying or harassment can take place face-to-face, behind your back, by telephone, email, text, social media or any other form of communication.

Bullying

There is no statutory definition of bullying. ACAS defines bullying as offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour. It is an abuse or misuse of power through means intended to undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure you. Bullying tactics can include hostile verbal or nonverbal communication, sabotage, exclusion, manipulation, and psychological or physical abuse.

According to the TUC guide ‘Bullied at Work?’, bullying behaviour can include:

competent staff being constantly criticised, having responsibilities removed or being given trivial tasks to do;
shouting at staff;
persistently picking on people in front of others or in private;
blocking promotion;
regularly and deliberately ignoring or excluding individuals from work activities;
setting a person up to fail by overloading them with work or setting impossible deadlines;
consistently attacking a member of staff in terms of their professional or personal standing;
regularly making the same person the butt of jokes;

Please note there are many actions and behaviours that do not amount to bullying. For example:

fair and reasonable criticism of your performance or behaviour;
constructive feedback;
not being invited to meeting where you are not required;
being placed on a performance procedure where your performance is not of an appropriate standard;

Harassment

Harassment is defined by the Equality Act 2010, as unwanted conduct related to your ‘protected characteristics’ that has the purpose or effect of violating your dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for you. Harassment is also unwanted conduct of a sexual nature which has that same purpose or effect. Protected characteristics are:

Age;
Disability;
Gender reassignment;
Marriage and civil partnership;
Pregnancy and maternity;
Race Religion or belief;
Sex Sexual orientation;

Victimisation

Victimisation is when someone treats you badly or subjects you to a detriment because you complain about bullying/harassment or help someone who has been the victim of bullying/harassment. Detriment means you’ve suffered a disadvantage of some sort or been put in a worse position than you were before. This offers an extra layer of protection if you are worried about making a complaint about bullying/harassment directed at you or one of your colleagues. Examples of bullying and harassment behaviours include when someone:

puts you down or deliberately embarrasses you;
makes insulting or offensive comments or jokes;
scares you, makes threats or shouts at you;
uses insulting words or threatening body language;
ignores you or unreasonably keeps you out of meetings or events;
stops or blocks you from doing your job;
threatens you or commits physical violence;
leaves offensive items around your work area

Examples of sexual harassment include when someone:

makes unwelcome sexual advances or touches you in an intrusive way;
makes sexual jokes;
displays pornographic photographs or drawings around your work area;
sends you emails with material of a sexual nature;

What support and guidance is available?

For any additional support and/or guidance you can contact Fitzgerld:

Phone: 0330 223 5253

E-mail: dramarepublic@fitzgeraldhr.co.uk

website: https://www.fitzgeraldhr.co.uk/

Freelancers (PAYE or self employed) who wish to make a complaint should contact either Drama Republic’s Head of Production or Production Executive (where relevant) (“DR Production Representative”) or Fitzgerald. The same principles of fairness and objectivity will be applied. We will mirror the formal process set out in this Policy with flexibility, in exceptional circumstance, to take into account the short term nature of some freelance engagements.

Our approach

We will not victimise, unfairly treat or discipline you if you make a genuine informal or formal bullying or harassment complaint. We will respect and maintain your confidentiality. We will also remind anyone involved in your complaint about their responsibilities to maintain confidentiality.

As we have a duty to protect you and your colleagues, there may be times we decide to act on your complaint independently. In these situations, will inform you of the outcome of our investigations if you wish to know.

You can use our informal or formal processes to resolve your complaint although where possible, we encourage you to try to resolve any problems informally in the first instance.

We will appoint Drama Republic’s appointed HR consultant, Fitzgerald HR (Fitzgerald) to investigate any formal complaint that you bring to our attention in a fair, independent and confidential way and, after considering all the facts and findings presented by Fitzgerald, we will take prompt and appropriate action.

Trying to resolve problems using Informal Processes

Where possible and appropriate, we encourage you to try to resolve problems with bullying or harassment informally before using the formal process. You can do this with the support of any of Drama Republic’s HOD’s, the respective line producer for the Production or DR Production Representative.

We advise you to try to resolve your complaint as early as possible, to reduce stress and worry for you and possibly the other person involved. It is important to remember that the other person may be unaware of their behaviour and the impact it has on you. Your informal feedback will give the person a better understanding and opportunity to change or stop their behaviour. In the first instance it is best to speak to the other person to explain the situation and how it has made you feel. It can be helpful to describe the day, place, meeting or event that took place so the other person is clear about your concerns. You should use the opportunity to ask the person to change or stop their behaviour. If you feel unable to speak to the person yourself, you can approach your trade union representative, line manager or the DR Production Representative to help you.

What to do if you cannot resolve a problem informally

If you do not feel the informal process is an option for you, you may decide to follow the formal process straightaway. Equally, you might have already tried to resolve the matter informally and the problem has continued. The formal process will be mirrored for freelance complaints whilst retaining flexibility, in exceptional circumstances, to take into account the short term nature of some freelance engagements. In any of these cases you should contact the line manager for the production and DR Production Representative to explain the situation and get advice on possible next steps.

The formal process

This formal process can be used if you want to make a formal bullying or harassment complaint. The formal process will be mirrored for freelance complaints whilst retaining flexibility, in exceptional circumstance, to take into account the short term nature of some freelance engagements.

The formal complaint procedure below shall be conducted by Fitzgerald.

Step 1: Making your formal complaint

We ask you to put your formal complaint in writing and send it to the DR Production Representative (who shall pass the same onto Fitzerald) or directly to Fitzgerald at dramarepublic@fitzgeraldhr.co.uk as soon as possible after the time of the incident. This will provide the best opportunity to fairly and reasonably investigate your complaint while details of what took place can readily be remembered by anyone involved. We understand this may not be possible in all cases and will investigate any complaint made in good faith. We ask you to include full details of your complaint including a detailed account of the incident, the date it took place, who was involved including any witnesses, and any action you may have taken.

Step 2: The meeting

We aim to ensure that an investigation into a bullying or harassment complaint takes place within 30 days. For complex cases, (defined as those with multiple grievers, witnesses geographically dispersed, a counter grievance or where another HR process is ongoing e.g. sickness absence), we aim to complete investigations in 60 days. This will require you and all other parties involved in the investigation to make best efforts to ensure that you/they are available to attend any meetings that will be set up by DR Production Representative/Fitzgerald as quickly as possible and that adequate time is provided in diaries to ensure any issues can be resolved as quickly as possible.

It is likely that a more complex case will require more time. We aim to offer you a date for the first meeting within 10 days of your contact with the DR Production Representative/Fitzgerald. The meeting will be an opportunity to discuss the details of your complaint. Sometimes extra meetings will be needed and it is important that you attend them all. You are entitled to reasonable paid time off to attend formal meetings and should notify your manager as soon as you know about dates, so that adequate cover can be arranged during your absence. We will handle your complaint in an objective and fair way. An investigation lead will be assigned to investigate your case by Fitzgerald.

You have the right to be represented by a recognised trade union representative or a colleague (not a practising lawyer) at any formal meeting that you are invited to attend. While we investigate your complaint, we may arrange for you or the other person involved to be temporarily redeployed. Or we may decide to temporarily change the person you report to. In certain cases, we may decide that it is appropriate to suspend the other person involved. After your complaint has been fully investigated, the Fitzgerald manager will make a decision as to the result of the case and communicate to you their decision and any associated recommendation. The other person involved will also be informed of the decision.

Step 3: Your right to appeal

If you are not content with the result of your bullying or harassment complaint you have the right to appeal.

Once an appeal has been submitted, DR may ask the commissioning broadcaster/PACT to take over the proceedings and/or assign an appropriate person to your case.

If you wish to use the appeals process we will continue to maintain your confidentiality, but we may need to share records from your investigation with the new manager/expert and the commissioning broadcaster/PACT. We will tell you and any witnesses involved if we need to share your records. You have the right to be represented by a recognised trade union representative or a colleague (not a practising lawyer) at any formal meeting that you are invited to attend.

Possible outcomes following an investigation

There are many outcomes that can follow an investigation into bullying or harassment including mediation, training, coaching, or disciplinary proceedings (which could lead to formal warnings being issued up to and including dismissal, redeployment or demotion).

If an outcome of your complaint is that the person you have complained about is invited to a disciplinary meeting following the ACAS Code, you will be informed, on a strictly confidential basis, of the outcome of the disciplinary proceedings once any appeal process has come to an end.

In any case, if inappropriate behaviour is found to have occurred, it will be made clear to the other person involved that the behaviour must stop.

Everyone involved in a bullying or harassment investigation must act with goodwill and honesty. We may take disciplinary action if we find that an employee has made a false or malicious complaint. For freelancers: your continued engagement may be at risk if we find that you have committed any acts of bullying or harassment.

What to do if you witness bullying or harassment

We all share responsibility for ensuring a safe working environment for ourselves and others. You may not have experienced bullying or harassment directly, but have witnessed someone else being bullied or harassed. If this has occurred, you should raise your concerns in order to protect the safety and wellbeing of the other person. We understand you may feel worried about getting involved in a situation that does not directly affect you. We will support you in raising your concerns in an informal or formal way, so the bullying or harassment can stop. We will not victimise, unfairly treat or discipline you for raising a genuine concern. We encourage you to contact either dramarepublic@fitzgeraldhr.co.uk, the line manager, or the DR Production Representative to explain the situation and get advice on possible next steps.

How bullying and harassment is monitored

We handle all bullying and harassment complaints in line with the Data Protection Act. We keep anonymised records of all formal bullying and harassment complaints. We constantly review this policy to ensure that it remains up-to-date and comprehensive. If you have any questions regarding the policy or you want to report an incident of harassment and/or bullying please speak to the person who is responsible for overseeing the Company’s bullying and harassment policy:

Whistleblowing Officer

Jonathan Leather – Head of Production

jonathan@dramarepublic.com

07973 624945

Fitzgerald HR