With the summer holidays drawing to a close, you may have missed some of the employment law developments that have been announced recently. We have put together a quick summary to help you catch up.
Worker Protections
Still working its way through Parliament, a new version of the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill has been published, but it is much diluted from its original form.
There are two key changes that have been made:
- Removal of employer liability for third party harassment of employees.
The initial proposal, which would have seen the introduction of employer liability for third party harassment of employees in the course of employment, has been removed. This means the law in this area will remain the same and employers will not be liable for third party harassment unless their failure to protect an employee is related to a protected characteristic.
- Employers must take “reasonable steps” to protect employees from sexual harassment rather than “all reasonable steps”.
Removing the requirement to take “all” reasonable steps lowers the bar for employers, thereby reducing the burden on them.
In essence, this will not change the existing provision under s 109(4) of the Equality Act 2010 where employers will be deemed responsible for any act of harassment committed by employees unless they have taken “all reasonable steps” to prevent it.
Current debate suggests the duty to protect employees from sexual harassment may still be extended to prevent...
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