Harassment at work is governed by the Protection from Harassment Act, not the Women’s Charter, because a colleague is not family. The family violence provisions many people first think of protect spouses, former spouses and relatives. A manager, a co-worker or a client falls outside that, so the protections against family violence do not reach them. Instead, harassment in the workplace is dealt with under the Protection from Harassment Act (POHA), which protects people from harassment generally, wherever it happens.
This guide explains what POHA covers at work, the protection orders it offers, your employer’s role, the guidance that exists for workplaces, and the situation where the harasser is also a family member and two frameworks overlap. If you are in immediate danger, call the police on 999. For support, the National Anti-Violence and Sexual Harassment Helpline is 1800 777 0000. For the family violence side of things, see our overview of family violence and protection orders.
Why the Women’s Charter does not apply
The distinction turns on relationship, not on how serious the conduct is. The family violence provisions of the Women’s Charter are built around the family: they protect a person from violence by a spouse, a former spouse, or a relative, and they lead to a Personal Protection Order made in that context.
A workplace relationship is not a family one. However distressing a manager’s or colleague’s behaviour, they are not your relative, so the Women’s Charter route is not open against them. That is not a gap in the law. It is simply a different law doing the job. Harassment untethered from a family relationship is precisely what POHA was made for, and it applies whether the person harassing you is a stranger, an acquaintance or someone you work beside every day.
Getting the right framework matters in practice, not just in theory. Applying under the wrong provision can cost you time and lead to an application that does not fit, at a point when you most need protection to work quickly. If you are unsure which law governs your situation, because, for instance, the line between a work relationship and a personal one is blurred, it is worth clarifying that at the outset rather than discovering the mismatch later.
What POHA covers in the workplace
POHA addresses harassment, alarm and distress caused by threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour. It is deliberately broad about how that conduct is delivered: it reaches behaviour in person, in writing, and online, which matters in modern workplaces where much harassment happens over messages, email and social media rather than face to face.
In a workplace setting, the conduct POHA can address includes a colleague, a manager, a subordinate or even a client who harasses you. It provides for both civil remedies you can pursue yourself and, for certain conduct, criminal consequences. Because so much workplace harassment now happens through screens, the overlap with online conduct is significant, and our guide to online harassment and stalking covers that dimension in more detail.
Protection orders and the Protection from Harassment Court
One of the main remedies POHA offers is the ability to apply to court for a protection order against the person harassing you. These applications are heard by the Protection from Harassment Court, a court set up to deal specifically with harassment matters.
A protection order can require the harassment to stop and can restrict the harasser’s conduct going forward. Its force comes from the consequence attached to ignoring it: breaching a protection order is an offence. That is what turns a court order from a statement into something with real weight behind it. How to apply and what an order can require is set out in our guide to the POHA protection order. Where the harassment is coming from a family member rather than a colleague, the equivalent order under the family violence framework is the Personal Protection Order.
Your employer’s role and grievance channels
The law is not the only route, and often not the first one. Employers are expected to take workplace harassment seriously, and most have, or should have, a grievance or HR process for raising it. Reporting the conduct internally is usually the practical first step: it puts the matter on record, gives the employer the chance to act, and can resolve the situation without going to court.
There is also broader guidance on this. A tripartite advisory on workplace harassment exists to help employers and employees understand how to prevent and manage it, setting expectations for the systems a workplace should have and the way complaints should be handled. We describe it in general terms; the point to take from it is that dealing with harassment at work is understood to be a shared responsibility, and your employer is expected to have a means for you to raise it. If your employer’s process fails you, or the conduct continues, the POHA route through the court remains available regardless.
When the harasser is also a family member
Sometimes the two worlds collide. A person who harasses you at work may also be a family member: a spouse you work with, a relative in a family business, an in-law who is also a colleague. When that happens, two frameworks can apply at once.
The workplace conduct can be addressed under POHA and its protection order. Conduct by that same person as a family member may also engage the family violence provisions of the Women’s Charter and a Personal Protection Order. These are separate routes with separate requirements, and which one, or whether both, fits your situation depends on the specific facts. Because the overlap is genuinely complex, this is an area where taking advice pays off, so you pursue the route, or combination of routes, that actually protects you.
Where to get help
You have more than one door to knock on, and you can use several at once. If you are in immediate danger, call the police on 999. For support with harassment and violence, the National Anti-Violence and Sexual Harassment Helpline on 1800 777 0000 can help you understand your options. For the workplace itself, use your employer’s grievance channel to put the matter on record and give them the chance to act. And if the conduct continues, take advice on a protection order. Living with harassment is exhausting, and if it is wearing on your mental health, the national mental health helpline on 1771 is available, and the Samaritans of Singapore can be reached on 1767. You are entitled to feel safe at work, and there are real options for getting there.
