New laws planned as part of the employment rights bill will have benefits for victims, witnesses and employers, explains Elizabeth Gardiner
From claims at McDonald’s to complaints about Gregg Wallace’s behaviour and the ongoing allegations of abuse at Harrods, again and again we see that it takes a scandal to emerge before employers choose to act. Preventing sexual harassment in the workplace should be everyone’s responsibility. It’s no longer enough for organisations to say they have a zero-tolerance approach. Following the introduction of the Worker Protection Act last year, they now need to be accountable for their cultures and are under a legal duty to prevent sexual harassment taking place. And now the new employment rights bill, currently before parliament, will bolster this duty, introducing a new ‘category of concern’ for whistleblowers that sexual harassment has occurred, is occurring or is likely to occur.
Lawyers will rightly argue that harassment of any nature is already covered by whistleblowing law – serious harassment may be a crime, but any sexual harassment would be a breach of a legal obligation under the Equality Act 2010. So, the law is only clarifying, rather than extending, protections. But there are strong public policy reasons to make it clear on the face of the Act – and consequently in black and...
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