By Natasha Adom in Personnel Today
After a long gestation period, new sexual harassment responsibilities for UK employers look as though they will successfully make it through parliament. What changes do employers face if the law is enacted, asks GQ|Littler’s Natasha Adom.
The government is supporting a private member’s bill that would significantly increase employers’ responsibilities in relation to harassment. If the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill is enacted as drafted, it would mean that employers would be liable if their employee is harassed by any third party (such as a client or customer) and would also have a new positive duty to take reasonable steps to prevent their employees being sexually harassed.
Under this bill, employers would be directly liable for harassment by a third party, unless they can show they took all reasonable steps to prevent the harassment taking place. This protection is drafted very widely. For example:
This new duty would be enforced in two ways:
Currently, there is no such positive duty. Instead, the way the law works is that employers have a full defence to a harassment claim if they can show they took all reasonable steps to prevent the harassment from occurring. This includes having policies in place and appropriate training.
This legislation was first proposed by the government back in 2018. But legislation was not introduced until a private members’ bill was set out by Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse.
This followed studies suggest that harassment remains a significant issue for many employees. In a government consultation 54% of respondents reported having experienced sexual harassment at work; and the EHRC Turning the Tables report found that a quarter of employees who reported harassment said the perpetrators were third parties.
Assuming this bill is passed, which seems more likely than not since the measures were initially proposed by the government, it would become law a year after it receives Royal Assent. It is currently in the House of Lords after passing through the Commons.
The EHRC has also indicated that it would produce a Statutory Code of Practice for employers which would provide important guidance.
In the meantime, employers wishing to prepare for these changes may want to consider the following things: