What are the implications for employers of the proposed new duties to protect workers against abuse by clients, customers and suppliers? Charlotte Sloan reports
Most businesses would not condone the harassment of their staff by third parties such as clients, customers, suppliers, pupils or parents. How proactively they seek to prevent it (and how successfully), however, is a question that HR and senior leaders will need to contend with if a new law comes into effect which makes employers potentially liable for the harassment of their employees by third parties during their employment. In this context, a ‘third party’ means anyone other than the employer or one of its employees.
The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill (the Bill), which has not yet become law, seeks to introduce this protection. It is a Private Members’ Bill currently awaiting the next stage of the parliamentary approval process.
In the same way that the existing harassment protection works under the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010), if the proposed changes take effect, any alleged third-party harassment will need to be linked to a relevant protected characteristic. In addition, there will be a corresponding onus on organisations to take reasonable steps to mitigate against such third-party harassment to have a viable defence.
Third-party harassment was previously unlawful under EqA 2010 until the relevant provisions were repealed in 2013. Previously, businesses could successfully defend...
By Cristina Lazo Source: SBS Canberra- based aircraft engineer Paulo Paniel acquired a thirty- year-old towbar business in 2018, which challenged him to implement systems - such as photo documenta...