COCON 4 Annex 1 How COCON applies to harassment

The purpose of this Annex is to describe how COCON applies to behaviour of the kind in COCON 4.3.1G in the form of flow diagrams. It does not cover when behaviour by a manager relating to such conduct may be a breach of COCON or the senior manager conduct rules in COCON 2.2.

Such behaviour does not breach COCON unless all of the following conditions are met:

1. (1) the person whose conduct is in question is of a kind to whom COCON applies (section 2 of COCON 4 Annex 1 deals with this);
2. (2) the conduct is of a kind that comes within COCON (section 3 of COCON 4 Annex 1 deals with this);
3. (3) the conduct is within the territorial scope of COCON (section 4 of COCON 4 Annex 1 deals with this); and
4. (4) the conduct is a breach of one of the rules in COCON 2.1 (Individual conduct rules) (section 5 of COCON 4 Annex 1 deals with this).

In this Annex:

1. (1) ‘P’ means the person whose conduct is in question;
2. (2) ‘F’ means the firm P works for; and
3. (3) ‘the harassment rule’ means COCON 1.1.7FR.

This Annex deals with the 3 sets of rules in COCON 1.1 (Who?, What? and Where?) in the same order as COCON 1.1. However, a person wanting to see whether conduct is within the scope of COCON can apply them in any order. For example, if conduct takes place outside the UK, a person may wish to apply the territorial scope rules first. If the answer is that the conduct is outside the territorial scope of COCON, COCON does not apply and there is no need to look at any other part of COCON 1.1.

This Annex is based on the flow diagrams in COCON 1 Annex 2 (How the application rules in COCON 1.1 (Application) work) with parts not relevant to the harassment rule removed and with more detail about harassment added.

This section deals with the types of people COCON applies to where the question is whether behaviour of the kind in COCON 4.3.1G comes within COCON.

Flow diagram: Who COCON applies to

This section deals with what behaviour of the kind in COCON 4.3.1G comes within COCON.

COCON 4 Annex 1 3.4G contains the first part of the flow diagram. If this part of the flow diagram says that COCON does not apply, that means that the conduct in question is not within the scope of COCON. There is no need to go further in the flow diagram.

There is then a second flow diagram (COCON 4 Annex 1 3.7G), which applies when P works for any kind of SMCR firm except for an SMCR banking firm.

Flow diagram: Conduct COCON applies to: Flow diagram applying to all firms

COCON 1.3.2G to COCON 1.3.9G contain guidance on COCON 1.1.6R to COCON 1.1.7R as referred to in the flow diagram in COCON 4 Annex 1 3.4G.

1. (1) As explained in COCON 4 Annex 1 1.1G, this Annex only covers misconduct in respect of a work colleague.
2. (2) COCON 1.1.7FR(3) (To what conduct does it apply? (Other limitations: Non-banks: Harassment)) deals with that restriction in the case of an SMCR firm that is not an SMCR banking firm and that restriction is reflected in the flow diagrams in this Annex.
3. (3) COCON 1.1.7FR(3) does not apply to an SMCR banking firm. In the case of an SMCR banking firm, the rules in COCON do not have a restriction based on whether conduct relates to a work colleague. Therefore, the flow diagrams in this Annex do not reflect the restriction of the scope of this Annex described in (1) in the case of an SMCR banking firm.

Flow diagram: Conduct COCON applies to: Firms other than SMCR banking firms

If the result of applying the flow diagram in COCON 4 Annex 1 3.7G is that reference is made to this paragraph, the conduct is not within the harassment rule. In turn, that normally means that the conduct is not a breach of COCON.

However, the conduct can still be a breach of COCON in accordance with the flow diagram in COCON 4 Annex 1 3.10G.

Flow diagram: Where the harassment rule does not apply

This section deals with the territorial scope of COCON.

Flow diagram: Territorial scope

This section deals with the remaining questions to be asked when deciding whether behaviour of the kind in COCON 4.3.1G is a breach of COCON.

Flow diagram: Remaining questions

COCON 4.3.6G to COCON 4.3.18G deal with whether conduct is of the kind described in COCON 1.1.7FR(4)(a).

COCON 4.3.17G to COCON 4.3.18G deal with aspects of whether conduct is of the kind described in COCON 1.1.7FR(4)(b).

COCON 4.3.19G to COCON 4.3.24G deal with whether conduct otherwise comes within Individual Conduct Rule 1 or Individual Conduct Rule 2.