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Employment Rights Bill: what we know and what we don’t
Sexual harassment: What employers need to know and do
On 26th October 2024, new sections of the Equality Act 2010 come into force. From this date, employers have a positive legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent the sexual harassment of their employees.
This is called the preventative duty. If employers do not comply with it, they are breaking the law. The preventative duty is designed to improve workplace cultures by requiring employers to anticipate how sexual harassment might happen in their workplace and take proactive reasonable steps to prevent it.
The preventative duty covers worker-on-worker harassment and harassment by third parties such as contractors, customers, clients or patients.
The Equality & Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published the final version of its technical guidance along with an eight-step guide for employers on preventing sexual harassment at work.
Steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace
The practical steps below illustrate the types of action you can take to prevent and deal with sexual harassment in the workplace. While the eight steps are not an exhaustive list, implementing them should help employers take positive action to prevent and deal with the issues. The eight steps are:
- Developing an effective anti-harassment policy
- Engaging with staff
- Assessing and taking steps to reduce workplace risk
- Reporting
- Training
- Handling harassment complaints
- Dealing with third-party harassment
- Monitoring and evaluating actions
Employment tribunals will be able to increase any compensation by up to 25% if they find an employer is in breach of their duty.
The guidance makes it clear that management and senior leaders play a critical role in creating respectful workplaces free from harassment. They should model respectful behaviour and visibly promote a positive and inclusive workplace culture where harassment is taken seriously and not tolerated.
How can we help?
Our employment law team can support you to draft a new policy that covers the eight steps and we can also offer bespoke training for your staff. Together these will reduce the chances of your business being found to have failed to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment.
If you would like to discuss how we can help you with any aspects of the new duty or anything else employment law-related, contact Brendan Bah on 0113 487 3931 (or email ku.oc1728466587.fcl@1728466587habb1728466587) or James Austin on 01132 384 046 (or email ku.oc1728466587.fcl@1728466587nitsu1728466587a.sem1728466587aj1728466587)