A colleague sent a video of a murder at work today and I'm still seething. What rights do I have? (UK)

It’s already well known at work that I don’t just not like gore videos but that I hate them and actively avoid them.

A colleague sent me a video of a man being murdered by axe via WhatsApp to my personal phone on my lunch break. Before I opened it I asked if it was a video that I would want to see (because I know what sort of character he is), he implied it was fine.

Despite my suspicion I took his word and watched it. I immediately scolded him, he then made light of the situation, I told him that it wasn’t funny and that if it ever happened again I would be making a formal complaint immediately.

A couple of minutes later, another colleague came in to the mess room, the guy that sent the video made fun of me for not liking the video in front of them. I told him that he was making fun of me and that I wasn’t ok with that.

Do I have the right to not be sent murder videos? What would an employer do if I made a complaint?

inb4_FoundTheVegan,
@inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world avatar

All the advice about going to HR is great, and you absolutely should.

But on a personal note, I’m really sorry you are dealing with this. Absolutely not even remotely okay for him to do this and you are well within your rights to force an end to this. Wildly unprofessional behavior and down right creepy behavior just on a personality level.

I hope you find peace from him soon.

BruceLee,

As for law I don’t know but this is work harassement. Your company surely has a policy against it.
I would advice you to go to your HR make a complain even you don’t go all the way to make sure he is punished, you should make sure they is a official trace of what happened. For you, for what you went thought also for the case he keeps going and for other how might be his next victims of harassment in the futur.

Potatos_are_not_friends,

Yep work harassment. Not even a maybe.

If some edgelord employee sent a picture of a gun to someone with no context, HR will file it under threat. The edgelord won’t get in serious trouble, but would be warned about that since it’s vague and can be anything from showing their cool gun collection, to threatening to shoot.

Now a video of actual murder… You better believe thats harassment. No question about it. Immediate removal.

And as the comment above - if he’s sending that to you, he absolutely will be sending nasty shit to your other coworkers, especially to those who can’t speak up or are too afraid.

Melatonin,

Not acceptable. I don’t know laws in the UK but that person should lose their job. Workplace harassment is a serious offense, as you are REQUIRED to be there, so your employer is required to provide you with a safe, harassment-free workplace.

Keep evidence, keep everything, report everything, and keep doing it. Keep personal logs of who you talked to and when, what was said, even if there’s no other record. It’s possibly going to cost you your “team member” status, but that’s what the harasser is counting on. They are sadistic, and they’re going out of their way to make your life miserable and endanger your job and peace of mind.

Show them no mercy.

potentiallynotfelix,

deleted_by_moderator

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    potentiallynotfelix,

    deleted_by_moderator

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    gayhitler420,

    Do you still have the video link???

    intensely_human,

    I think the more important question is: why did you not make the complaint? You said that you would, and you know it’s the right move, but you haven’t done it. Instead you came here to ask what would happen. Why?

    lemmyreader,

    Another thing you can consider is to find a good mediator and then have a chat with your colleague to talk about your boundaries and about their motives. You got lots of down-votes for your reluctance to complain and have the colleague fired and that made me think that your colleague getting fired might make things worse. Who knows what more horrible things the person would do after that. Something more constructive must be possible.

    lemmyreader,

    What a complete and utter distasteful thing to do by your colleague. You do have the other colleague as witness, kind of. In some countries you can get legal advice for free. No idea whether that applies for the UK. Having said that your colleague appears to be seeking for attention, negative or not. You really should define your personal boundaries. However the question is whether ignoring the person and blocking their private number or filing a complaint is going to give them more attention and more reason to harass you. I would talk with a few good friends in real time about this so you can vent or cry or shout about this horrible event. Stay safe!

    brb,

    It’s just a video. You are making a big deal out of nothing.

    SecretPancake,

    Found the colleague

    brb,

    Found the snowflake

    GreyEyedGhost,

    I agree, the video isn’t that big a deal. Not respecting boundaries in a work environment, on the other hand, is a very big deal, particularly since he knew he was violating their boundaries. I’ve stopped talking to people who didn’t respect my boundaries before, and those were friends, not coworkers. The fact you can’t recognize the underlying issue is probably something you should reflect on.

    iAvicenna,

    your colleague is likely a borderline psychopath or antisocial at best (not asocial, antisocial big difference)

    Amanduh,

    I could see this just being someone who is immature and thinking they’re being funny, like someone who is ticklish but doesn’t like being tickled and people keep tickling them randomly.

    To be clear I am not condoning the actions of this person, if the op doesn’t want to see gore videos then their wishes should be respected. I’m just thinking back to younger me and I was such an asshole =/

    Zeroxxx,

    Block his WhatsApp ass.

    ngn,
    @ngn@lemy.lol avatar

    pretty sure you can get him fired but going to police would be little too much (imo)

    Breezy,

    Naw people who are that dumb and cruel wont learn a thing unless its shoved in his face that what he did was fucked up.

    tetris11,
    @tetris11@lemmy.ml avatar

    The police won’t just issue a slap on the wrist though, he will be entered onto a database. This could potentially ruin their entire life.

    Breezy,

    If by database you mean in the criminal system, yeah i guess he would be. Thats the usual consequences of breaking the law. It wouldnt ruin his life though.

    tetris11,
    @tetris11@lemmy.ml avatar

    I think intent needs to be factored in. If the colleague’s intent was purely to terrorise then that should be punishable. If their intent was humour, albeit at the expense of OP, I think some leniency should be involved, at least until they understand the gravity of their offence.

    We are all ignorant of the sensitivies of others in at least one degree, is my defense here.

    VaultBoyNewVegas,

    Guarantee you wouldn’t be saying this if he was sharing CSAM.

    ngn,
    @ngn@lemy.lol avatar

    Yes that’s illegal

    Breezy,

    Pretty sure forcing gore videos onto another person is also illegal.

    intensely_human,

    Can you cite the law?

    ngn, (edited )
    @ngn@lemy.lol avatar

    its not like he put a gun to his head and forced him to watch it, also what do you even tell to the police? “officer this guy sent me a gore video and then made fun of me - arrest him!”

    philpo,

    From my understanding your colleague committed a crime under the Indecent Displays (Control) Act 1981 and you can refer the matter to the police - which I would strongly recommend as this is beyond an employee-employer relationship.

    And it brings the employer into a position that the company is forced to make sure that the offender cannot reoffend against anyone (not just you). While the first offense is nothing the company can really be held liable for, anything after they have (officially) made aware they can be held liable for.

    MrAlternateTape,

    A good employer would listen to your complaint. Then talk to the other guy. But he will not get fired over one incident.

    It may get added to his personal file. If the list of complaints gets to big, some training may follow.

    In my country it is very difficult to fire somebody for something like this. Only after repeated incidents, extra training and multiple chances to improve over a longer period of time would they stand a chance.

    That does however require other people to report those incidents. So go ahead and report it because it clearly makes you very uncomfortable and it is very unprofessional from the other guy.

    teawrecks,

    Honestly, I feel like you’re being bizarrely calm about the situation. This is so far beyond unacceptable that one or both of them should be immediately fired for this offense, lest you have an open-and-shut hostile work environment lawsuit on your hands.

    I would make sure to keep the text as evidence and let HR know about it. If the guys are somehow not fired, and ever approach you again or try to retaliate in any way, go consult a lawyer.

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