Whilst much of the amended provisions of the Employment Rights Bill are not due to come into force until 2026, it is crucial that businesses begin preparing for the future now. This article covers some of the enhanced protections against harassment in the bill that employers should be aware of.
- Employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment
The requirement for employers to take “all” reasonable steps, instead of just reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of employees in the course of their employment, could have significant impact in practice. Whilst further regulations will specify what steps are “reasonable”, this amendment compels employers to consider all potential risks of workplace sexual harassment and identify reasonable steps to prevent all of them. A failure to demonstrate that all such reasonable steps were taken could see the employer fall foul of the Equality Act 2010.
The following steps (amongst others) have been identified in the bill as potentially reasonable steps subject to regulation:
(a) carrying out assessments of a specified description;
(b) publishing plans or policies of a specified description;
(c) steps relating to the reporting of sexual harassment; and
(d) steps relating to the handling of complaints.
By having such policies and procedures in place now to tackle workplace sexual harassment, employers will be best placed to comply with the law when the bill comes into force.
- Harassment by third parties
The bill also expands protection of employees from harassment to protection from third parties. This is a significant development in the law, as harassment of employees that employers could previously shrug off as outside the scope of their duties to protect would now require them to take preventative action.
Under the bill, employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent a third party from harassing an employee. However, it is important to note that for the purposes of the legislation, the harassment will only fall within this amended provision if it occurs in the course of an employee’s employment. This is not, therefore, an unreasonable expectation for an employer to constantly protect its employees from third party harassment in all ambits of life. However, it does require employers to review the safeguards they have to protect employees from harassment and ensure that either said safeguards can extend to third parties, or else come up with new ones to implement.
If you have any questions about the Employment Rights Bill, please contact us on 01256 844888.