Companies have enhanced obligations to prevent sexual harassment, from October, when the Worker Protection Act comes into force. Here are the key considerations for HR.
The implementation of the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 will introduce significant obligations on all employers when it comes to dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace. While employers can already be held vicariously liable for acts of sexual harassment carried out by their employees, this legislation goes further and introduces a legal obligation on all employers to take reasonable steps to prevent the sexual harassment of their employees.
Read more: Calling women ‘birds’ and boasting about sex is sexual harassment, tribunal rules
Critically, this will apply to all employers, whether they have one worker or 1,000. The only variable will be what “reasonable” looks like, which will partly depend on the employer’s size.
Although there is no standalone right to bring a claim against an employer for failing to take such reasonable steps, this obligation will have real teeth. If an employee succeeds in a sexual harassment claim and the tribunal finds that the employer didn’t take reasonable steps, they can increase any compensation by up to 25%.
With awards for harassment already high, breach of this obligation is going to be financially costly. This is aside from any reputational damage that is likely to follow a successful claim, as well as a possible investigation from...
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