Rudeness in the workplace: Nine of the most offensive things bosses have said to their employees

What someone might view as a flippant comment could lead to repercussions

Friday 25 September 2015 08:08 EDT

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A study conducted last month found that rudeness can "infectious", with people who experienced rude behaviour likely to be rude to the person they interact with next.

We deal with rudeness all the time. From the commute to work to the angry email, insults and offhand remarks are hard to avoid.

But what someone might view as the most flippant of comments could lead to repercussions for both employers and employee.

Law firm Thomas Mansfield has pushed out a survey to find some of the most extreme cases of offensive comments to show what some people deal with in the workplace, and put them together in visual form.

Real examples include: "She’s tiny, she’s the perfect height for a…", "Bisexuals are just greedy", and, "You can’t contribute, you’re only 20."

Meredith Hurst writes that people commonly complain of "harassment" without understanding its "true legal meaning".

"Harassment in a legal sense must be on the basis of a protected characteristic including race, sex, disability and sexual orientation," she says.

"Harassment, or more generally, ‘being picked on’ for another reason (for example being overweight, hair colour, etc.) whilst not giving rise to an actionable discrimination may still cause staff to complain of bullying in the wider sense."

1) "The French are always on strike"