Everybody loves a list at this time of year. With the end of year fast approaching, everyone is working through their gift lists, to-do lists and grocery lists for their holiday celebrations. For the 12 Days of Christmas, we bring you this additional list of 12 employment law developments this year. There is no need to sing this one.
We wish you warmest wishes for a safe and happy holiday season.
ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS, THE EAT GAVE TO ME… A REMINDER TO REFRESH YOUR ANTI-HARASSMENT POLICY
In February this year, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that an employer’s anti-harassment and diversity training was insufficient to meet the “reasonable steps” defence in a claim of racial harassment by one of its employees. The training delivered two and three years earlier had become “stale” and required refreshing.
Employers are vicariously liable for acts of harassment or discrimination committed by their employees unless they can show they took “all reasonable steps” to prevent the harassment or discrimination.
In considering the reasonableness of steps that have been taken, consideration will be had to the extent to which the steps were likely to prevent harassment. The EAT noted that brief and superficial training is unlikely to have a substantial effect in preventing harassment. It is also unlikely to have long-lasting consequences. Thorough and forcefully presented training is more likely to be effective and to last longer. The EAT drew an analogy between...
On Tuesday, an X account attributed to a Texas man named Zyron Lewis posted a video of Lewis claiming that in 2012, when he was a middle school student, he was sexually assaulted by James Talarico...