From 26th October 2024, employers will have a mandatory duty to protect employees from sexual harassment. In particular, the new duty confirms that employers should take “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of employees in the course of their employment.
This beckons the question – what are “reasonable steps”?
The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) technical guidance and statutory Code of Practice will be updated to reflect the forthcoming duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace and will provide more detail on what is considered “reasonable steps”. That being said, it is likely that the following would be considered “reasonable steps”:
- Conducting a risk assessment from the outset to identify possible risks;
- Having a clear and regularly updated policy specifically dealing with sexual harassment;
- Providing mandatory training for all staff;
- Having a zero-tolerance workplace culture in relation to sexual harassment;
- Conducting regular staff surveys to ascertain the extent of any problem or potential risk of sexual harassment; and
- Monitoring the progress of all sexual harassment complaints to ensure that they are properly investigated and resolved.
It is important to note that simply having policies and training in place will not be enough - employers will need to take a proactive approach to ensure that such policies and training are effective and work in practice.
Under the legislation, Employment Tribunals will have the power to increase compensation by up to 25 per cent if it finds that an employer has breached this duty.
Furthermore, employees cannot raise a sole claim against an employer for the failure to take reasonable steps. Instead, a claim for breach of the new duty must be connected to an existing claim for harassment.
Therefore, it is important that employers are aware of this new duty and take such “reasonable steps” to protect employees from sexual harassment in the workplace.
Upon reading this article, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact one of our employment team.
