Supporting employees experiencing online abuse and harassment

Guidance for employers on:

• countering online intimidation and abuse of all employees
• supporting employees experiencing online harassment
• promoting civility in public life.

Introduction

Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) and Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs) have a duty to take reasonable steps to protect their employees from online bullying and harassment.

While online abuse can't always be prevented, there is increasing expectation for all organisations to take reasonable steps to address it and mitigate it so far as is possible.

This guidance sets out employers’ responsibilities to prevent or reduce online intimidation or abuse and provides suggestions for supporting staff who experience online harassment.

This guidance also contains links to relevant resources to help employers to take appropriate actions.

The issue

FRS employees, like other public facing roles, can often face heightened public scrutiny. However, this is increasingly escalating into online abuse or intimidation of these employees, affecting their mental, physical and professional wellbeing.

This may lead to demotivation, sick leave, or resignation, and has legal risks if the employer has failed to act appropriately to prevent or protect employees from the abuse. It can also be a factor in colleagues not wanting to seek promotion to senior leadership roles.

FRSs should already have policies and practices in place to protect the physical safety of staff at work, for example lone working policies, however these must extend to also address emotional and psychological harm, especially from online abuse or harassment.

Understanding online abuse, harassment and intimidation

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines work-related violence as any abuse, threats, or assaults linked to a person’s job, including verbal or online abuse.

This can come from members of the public, service users, or others and can be verbal abuse or threats made face to face as well as by telephone, letters or online.

However, while many employers are experienced in supporting the physical safety of their employees, they are still adapting to the challenges of online abuse, which is not yet clearly defined in UK law.

Online abuse and intimidation are emerging challenges for employers and traditional health and safety policies and management guidance may not adequately cover them.

While serious incidents, such as hate crimes and harassment or threats to life, have robust definitions and thresholds for police charges and legal consequences, the U.K. legal system does not have an absolute definition for online harassment.

This does not lessen the duty for FRSs/FRAs to ensure appropriate support is in place for affected employees, especially as some forms of online abuse and harassment may amount to hate crimes and malicious communications and may therefore have criminal consequences.

Online harassment can be carried out by known individuals and/or groups and/or anonymously. It is known by a variety of terms including cyberbullying, cyber aggression, online bullying, and cyber harassment.

There is no legal definition of cyber bullying, however it can broadly be described as the use of information and communications technology to support deliberate and hostile attempts to hurt, upset or humiliate another person.

This can include messages, comments or ‘tweets’ via an online social media platform (such as X, Facebook or Instagram), blogs, messaging boards (such as Reddit), or direct contact via email or mobile phone (including texts and other instant messages). The posting of private or personal details about someone online (known as ‘doxing’) would also be considered cyber bullying.

Some FRSs/FRAs report instances of repeated allegations or complaints that may fall into maliciousness. This can be hugely stressful for all involved and requires very firm and consistent handling of processes to demonstrate integrity to the public, as well as support for employees during any investigation processes or formal procedures.

Under the legal framework, single instances or comments may not always amount to harassment, but if it is offensive, abusive, threatening or intending to cause distress it may be considered malicious communication.

In determining whether abusive speech is criminal, the police must balance several considerations, including freedom of expression and journalistic expression.

Regardless of whether the abusive or intimidating message(s) results in police action, employers should consider what levels of support the employee experiencing this may need.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) website has useful additional information for understanding online harassment or crimes:

• Cyber / online crime
• Stalking or harassment

Employers’ duties

Employers have legal responsibilities, both under common law and health and safety legislation, to protect employees from harm, including harm caused by online abuse and intimidation.

Reasonable preventative measures are required by law to ensure a safe work environment, including acting to prevent online abuse and harassment as far as is possible. These duties apply even if the abuse doesn't meet the legal threshold for police action.

Women are particularly at risk of experiencing a variety of harmful behaviours online, such as image-based abuse and sexualised bullying. Employers must take reasonable steps to prevent their workers from being subjected to sexual harassment by third parties at work, including online harassment. See the LGA’s information on sexual harassment at work for more information.

While online abuse can't always be prevented, there is increasing expectation for organisations to take reasonable steps to address and mitigate it.

The main pieces of legislation are:

• The Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974: this places a legal duty on employers to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of workers. This includes protecting them from work-related violence, and maintenance of a working environment that is without risks to workers’ health and is adequate as regards to facilities and arrangements for their welfare at work.
• The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999: these specifically require employers to assess the health and safety risks to workers, including the risk of work-related violence and taking steps to eliminate or reduce the risk.
• The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023: introduced a new specific duty for employers to be proactive and systematic in preventing and tackling sexual harassment at work.

Preventing and managing online abuse

Even where online abuse and intimidation does not meet criminal thresholds, it may still have a profoundly negative impact on employees and their families, particularly if it is repeated and if it strays into additional concerning activity and/or threats.

There are a number of things employers can do to counter online abuse and harassment, and to support workers’ health and safety and wellbeing at work.

It is important to judge the appropriate response to online abuse and what support is needed on a case-by-case basis and to discuss the management of the situation with the member of staff affected.

The following actions can help to ensure a proactive and supportive approach to preventing and managing online abuse in the workplace.

Some of the Acts that offences fall under:

• The Malicious Communications Act 1988
• The Protection from Harassment Act 1997
• The Communications Act 2003
• The Online Safety Act 2023

Further information and additional resources are available via the following organisations and websites:

• Fire Brigades Union
• Fire Leaders Association
• Fire Officers’ Association
• Fire and Rescue Services Association
• LGA wellbeing resources