All UK Employers will be under a new duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of workers in the course of their employment from 26 October 2024. This new duty is contained in the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023.  There are no exemptions.

Context:

3 in 5 women say they have experienced sexual harassment, bullying or verbal abuse at work – rising to almost 2 in 3 women aged 25 to 34 (CIPD)

One in three women report not telling their employer about what was they experienced (CIPD)

There is no cap on sexual harassment compensation awarded by an employment tribunal

Definition:

When a person is subjected to unwanted conduct of a sexual nature which has the purpose or effect of either violating their dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment

When a person is treated less favourably because they submitted to, or rejected, that unwanted conduct

It includes worker-on-worker harassment, harassment by third parties, and harassment by agents acting on behalf of the employer

The Legal Position:

Employers are vicariously liable for the actions of their employees unless they take reasonable steps to prevent harassment

Employers need to show that you have taken those reasonable steps when you are defending a claim at a tribunal

Employees can complain to the equality authorities that you are not taking reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment even when no allegations have been made

Employers must take proactive preventative action in respect of your workers and third parties

Compensation at employment tribunal can be increased by up to 25% for failure to undertake this duty

Action required:

The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will have overview of UK employer and they advise the following steps:

Step 1: develop an effective anti-harassment policy –  e.g. specify who is protected, state that sexual harassment will not be tolerated and is unlawful, state that the law requires employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their workers

Step 2: engage your staff

Step 3: assess and take steps to reduce risk in your workplace – decide what steps are reasonable to take

Step 4: have a reporting process – incident log

Step 5: provide training bespoke to your workplace – training log

Step 6: know what to do if a harassment complaint is made

Step 7: dealing with harassment by third parties

Step 8: monitor and evaluate your actions

Summary:

• With the law on sexual harassment changing, you need to make sure you are ready for the new duty
• This process can begin now, by reviewing and updating what’s already in place
• A risk assessment of sexual harassment in the workplace should be carried out to identify what steps need to be taken
• The new Labour Government plans further changes to the law on employment under its manifesto pledge to ‘Make Work Pay’. An announcement is expected by the end of October and LGRC will bring you a summary of the legislative changes and implications for employers in the local council sector as soon as the plans are known.

Further information: What sexual harassment is – Sexual harassment – Acas

Sexual harassment and harassment at work: technical guidance | EHRC (equalityhumanrights.com)

Bethan Osborne, MA MCIPD
LGRC Partner and HR Consultant  03 October 2024