The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill was introduced to parliament by a Liberal Democrat MP and peer as a private members’ Bill, subsequently winning the support of government, which makes its passage into law more likely.
Under the Bill, employers would face a positive duty to “take all reasonable steps” to prevent their employees experiencing workplace sexual harassment. The Bill also makes provision for employers to be held liable for the harassment of staff by third parties, such as clients, suppliers, or customers, with this latter protection extending to all Equality Act protected characteristics, not just sexual harassment.
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However, amendments to the Bill were tabled after concerns were raised about the impact the proposed new provisions might have on legitimate workplace discussion. Reflecting on those concerns, Minister for Women, Maria Caulfield, said that employers might “feel obliged to shut down conversations conducted in their workplaces” to ensure they were not held liable for harassment.
Under the amendments, employers will not be considered to have failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment if: the harassment is unintentional and stems from a discussion to which the employee isn’t a party or to speech which isn’t directed at them; people are discussing or expressing an opinion on a political, moral, religious or social matter; and the opinion isn’t directed at the employee and isn’t “indecent or grossly...
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