What is what?

Bullying is a systematic, repeated and lasting hostile and unethical conduct towards the employee or student/learner. Bullying may occur in working and learning environments, also in activities related to work or studies outside the workplace or learning environment.

 Bullying often starts from a conflict between people and usually appears through verbal expressions in communication, joint activities or psychological manipulations. Less often, bullying may also be physical.

Bullying might take place between colleagues working in equal positions or between persons in different positions of power, including in the direction from a lower position towards those in a higher position. Bullying places the victim in an unequal and helpless situation where it is difficult to defend oneself. 

 Single unpleasant or negative behaviour incidents do not yet constitute bullying; these must be recurrent and systematic. 

More information can be found here:

Chancellor of Justice about bullying

Labour Inspectorate about bullying

Direct discrimination constitutes a situation where a person is treated worse than another person in a similar situation because of their gender, nationality, race, colour, religion or beliefs, age, disability or sexual orientation. In addition, unfavourable treatment related to pregnancy and childbirth, parenthood and family commitments, incl. taking care of persons reliant on care can be regarded as direct discrimination.

One of the forms of direct discrimination is harassment. Harassment is such a behaviour that is unwanted or unpleasant, creates a humiliating, offensive, degrading or hostile environment and is based, for example, on gender, age, nationality, race, colour, religion or beliefs, age, disability, sexual orientation, parenthood, family commitments or membership in the trade union.

Harassment may be a verbal, non-verbal or physical activity that may be directed at one or multiple persons, and influence the general working and studying atmosphere. Harassing behaviour is generally recurrent, but in more difficult cases, harassment may also be identified on a case-by-case basis.

More information can be found here:

The Commissioner for Equal Opportunities about discrimination 

The Human Rights Guide about direct discrimination and harassment

Indirect discrimination occurs when a seemingly neutral custom, policy or rule that applies to all puts some persons on the basis of some attribute in a more unequal situation or causes more negative consequences.

Treatment that has negative influences or consequences may sometimes be justified, however. Such behaviour is justified if a specific custom, policy or rule has a legal purpose that cannot be achieved with less discriminatory methods. Thus, even in cases where uniform treatment has negative influences or consequences for some parties, discrimination might not always occur. According to good practice, purposes and circumstances on the background should be clear and understandable for the parties in the abovementioned cases.

More information can be found here:

The Human Rights Guide about indirect discrimination

An instruction to discriminate (also a discriminatory order) occurs in situations where a person instructs another to discriminate a third person. In this case, the discriminator is the person who gives the order or the instruction.

More information can be found here:

The Human Rights Guide of the instruction to discriminate

Victimisation is persecution or another activity by which a person is treated worse than others or may be subject to negative consequences because of submitting an application on discrimination or supporting another person who has submitted complaints of discriminatory treatment.

More information can be found here:

The Human Rights Guide about victimisation