Know the boundaries | The 'banter' excuse just keeps popping up in employment tribunals

Cases regarding workplace bullying disguised as friendly ‘banter’ continue to appear in employment tribunals, new research shows.

According to research carried out by employment law firm, GQ|Littler, 66 claims were raised in the past year where comments from employees considered to be “banter” could be classified as bullying or harassment, especially in the case of discriminatory jokes relating to race, gender, nationality, or sexual identity.

Some examples of cases where banter has sought to be used as a defence in the past year included:

• Comments made implying that an employee of Asian ethnic descent had a bomb in his bag.

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