New workplace sexual harassment legislation effective from 26 October 2024
Paula Squire, partner in the Employment Team, discusses what you can do to ensure you meet your legal obligations including our offer of a comprehensive pack to assist you.
From 26 October 2024, employers will be under a new positive duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. The new Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 includes a wide definition which means that employers are required to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment against staff, not only from colleagues, but also from third parties, such as clients and customers.
As you will already know, sexual harassment at work is already unlawful and includes unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature which violates someone’s dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for someone to work. This applies even if the behaviour was not intended to have this effect. As employers you will potentially be vicariously liable for such actions stemming from your duty of care to your staff.
Many of our clients have been asking, how they can you really stamp this out? The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has updated it’s guidance to assist in this regard. They begin by making it clear that an employer is unlikely to be able to comply with this preventative duty if it does not carry out a risk assessment. This enables employers to evaluate the risk of workers being exposed to sexual harassment in the workplace and the steps that can be taken to minimise those risks.
The EHRC also set out their 8-step guide to preventing sexual harassment at work, which includes:
- Step 1: develop an effective anti-harassment policy
- Step 2: engage your staff
- Step 3: assess and take steps to reduce risk in your workplace
- Step 4: reporting
- Step 5: training
- Step 6: what to do when a harassment complaint is made
- Step 7: dealing with harassment by third parties
- Step 8: monitor and evaluate your actions
The new law does have some teeth as it will give Employment Tribunals the power to increase compensation by up to 25% where an employer is found to have breached this new duty in addition to the existing rights of employees to be protected under the Equality Act 2010. However, this new law does not give employees a freestanding right to claim for third party harassment in the Employment Tribunal, only the EHRC can do this. Nevertheless, where an employee succeeds on a claim for sexual harassment the question will then follow of whether the new obligation has been satisfied.
The EHRC also suggests what is reasonable will vary for different employers and will depend on factors including, but not limited to:
- the size and resources available to the employer;
- the nature of the working environment;
- the sector in which the employer operates;
- the risks present in the workplace;
- the nature of any interaction with third parties (for example type of third party, frequency of contact, environment);
- the likely impact of taking a particular step and whether a different approach could be more effective;
- the time, cost and potential disruption associated with taking a particular step weighed against its potential benefit;
- whether concerns of sexual harassment have been raised with the employer;
- compliance with relevant regulatory standards (such as those set by the Financial Conduct Authority or General Medical Council); and/or
- whether any steps already taken have been effective or ineffective (for example if a further incident of sexual harassment occurs after steps have been taken, this may indicate that additional and/or alternative action should be considered).
Your Essential Compliance Pack : Anti-Harassment in the workplace
We have compiled an Essential Anti-Harassment Compliance Pack to assist employers in meeting their obligations which includes:
| Legal Compliance Guidance Note | Your legal guidance note will guide you on the new law and how to implement your pack.
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| Updated harassment and bulling policy
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We provide a model policy which sets out your organisation’s commitment to preventing harassment and bullying at work, including the procedure for raising and investigating complaints.
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| Sexual harassment risk assessment form | Use this model form to assess the risk of workers being exposed to sexual harassment in the workplace and determine reasonable measures that can be taken to minimise those risks.
Our form provides an example of an organisation that has assessed various risk factors specific to their own organisation. You can then adapt the form to meet your own specific needs and identify risk factors to your organisation. |
| Preventing and Responding to Sexual Harassment Complaints Checklist
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This checklist is aimed at helping employers prevent sexual harassment claims and provides a useful checklist of how to respond. |
| Responding to employee concerns: Supervisor and manager guidelines
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These guidelines provide guidance for your managers or supervisors on how to handle complaints.
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| Model Questions for Investigating a Sexual Harassment Complaint
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This document is a good starting point to get both sides of the story and to effectively manage the investigation process. |
Our prices for the Essential Anti-Harassment Compliance Pack is £1,500 plus VAT. Or let us know if you would like a selection of the above.
Training
| Respect in the workplace : sexual harassment prevention training: for employees | We can either provide model training for you to roll out to your staff internally or let our trained presenters do this for you, either at one of our offices, your offices or online. |
| Respect in the workplace : sexual harassment prevention training and handling: for supervisors and managers
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As above, we can either provide model training for you to roll out to your staff internally or let our trained presenters do this for you, either at one of our offices, your offices or online. |
Our prices for the Essential Anti-Harassment Compliance Training Pack start from £750 plus VAT.
For more information do get in touch with Paula Squire on 0345 209 1200 or paula.squire@clarkewillmott.com
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