Businesses across Staffordshire will need to be extra vigilant when it comes to supporting colleagues at risk of sexual harassment in the workplace.
The changes are coming in as part of the Employment Rights Bill – which is due to gain Royal Assent shortly.
Employment Partner at Knights, Laura Clark, says the new legislation leaves little room for manoeuvre.
“The incoming changes now require businesses to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace – rather than just ‘reasonable steps’. Basically, if a tribunal or advocate can find any sort of step that you haven’t taken to prevent harassment then you’re going to struggle to argue that you have met the duty.
The bill provides for regulations to specify the steps that the employer must take to meet their obligations and, although they’re not fully fleshed out yet, you can look at the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance on the current situation and the current reasonable steps businesses must take. To put it simply, if you’re not taking “reasonable steps” at the moment, then when the changes come into effect then you most certainly won’t be taking all reasonable steps.
If you have had employees experiencing sexual harassment in the past, it will be particularly key to ensure that you have taken steps to prevent it from happening again. However, this is a proactive duty, and even an employer that hasn’t had employees complain of sexual harassment will need to take preventative measures – including staff surveys and risk assessments.
Employers that fall foul of the legislation could also expect intervention from the regulator.
The Employment Rights Bill also introduces a new provision meaning that employers can be liable for the harassment of their employees by third parties, in the event that an employee is harassed in the course of their employment and it is shown that the employer failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent the third party from harassing them.
This is a huge change as it places the burden on the employer to ensure a third party, whether that be client, customer or member of the public, does not harass one of their employees in the course of their work.
Any employer with customer-facing employees will feel the greatest impact of this change due to the frequency of public engagement. However, the Government is aware that you’re going to be more limited in the steps you can take when dealing with a third party than you are in respect of your own employees. So, again, it all comes down to carrying out risk assessments to determine what steps you need to take and then progressing them. Proactivity is key.”
