Following the 2017 #MeToo movement, and several high-profile scandals in the UK, the Women and Equalities Committee considered sexual harassment in the workplace and against women and girls in public places.
In this post, we’ll discuss reforms regarding employment law and sexual harassment to give you a better understanding of what duties employers have, along with the rights of employees.
Reforms Regarding Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
Focusing on the report’s findings on sexual harassment in the workplace, which concluded ‘employers must have greater and clearer responsibilities for protecting workers from sexual harassment.’ The report put forward five key recommendations:
- Put sexual harassment at the top of the agenda
- Require regulators to take a more active role
- Make the enforcement process work better for employees
- Clean up the use of non-disclosure agreements; and
- Collect robust data.
View the report for more information.
Focusing on recent reforms related to enforcement, on 26th October 2024, the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 inserted a new duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment.
The 2023 Act inserted section 40A into the Equality Act 2010, giving jurisdiction to the employment tribunals to award an uplift of up to 25% to an employee’s discrimination compensation.
As of 26th October 2024, employers are under a preventative duty to take proactive and reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Ahead of the 2023 Act’s enactment, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) issued helpful , including an additional eight-step guide.
The guidance states:
“What is reasonable will vary from employer to employer. The law does not list specific steps an employer must take. Different employers may prevent sexual harassment in different ways, but all employers must take action and no employer is exempt from the sexual harassment preventative duty.”
To determine whether an employer has taken reasonable steps requires an objective assessment and consideration of all the factual circumstances.
For advice and representation, please contact the employment law team at Newtons.
Further Employment Rights Bill Sexual Harassment Reforms to Be Expected
During the parliamentary process, the 2023 Act’s provision of the duty to take reasonable steps was watered down from the original draft, providing a duty to ‘take all reasonable steps’.
However, the Employment Rights Bill includes the original provisions of a duty to take all reasonable steps. These will place further protections for workers and increase burdens on employers.
The final details on whether these provisions will survive the Bill’s passage through parliament are still to be confirmed; however, employers should consider what these new provisions mean for their organisation.
For more support and guidance on reforms and employment tribunals for sexual harassment in the workplace, please contact us today. You can also browse our relevant case studies to better understand our team’s experience and capabilities.