Previously, The Equality Act 2010 imposed liability on employers for harassment by third parties of their employees if it occurred at least three times and was not addressed by the employer. However, these provisions were repealed on October 1, 2013, with a government in July 2012 looking to introduce a new legal duty on employers to proactively take all reasonable steps to protect workers from harassment and to reintroduce employer's liability.
No action had been taken on the above until now with the presentation of the private members' bill that could become law by the end of 2023 or early 2024.
What are the consequences of a breach of the provision within the bill?
The bill proposes to impose an obligation on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment and other forms of harassment such as racial in the course of a worker's employment, extending to work-related events such as Christmas parties, seminars, or leaving do functions and the employment tribunal will be given the authority to apply an uplift of up to 25% on tribunal awards where the employer has been in breach of their duty of care to prevent harassment.
What can the employer do?
Although the bill is still in its infancy stage, it is likely to become law sooner or later. Thus, employers should continue to regularly review their harassment policy, make sure all staff are aware of it and any other relevant policies, assess risks relating to harassment and what factors increase such risks and be proactive in investigating any harassment concerns being put forward by workers and employees.
Risk factors may include matters such as working alone at a customer site, abuse of a position of authority, customer-facing duties, the impact of a lack of diversity in the workplace and whether staff face any obstacles in reporting harassment.
The article is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal advice.
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