The Worker Protection Act: a new duty on employers
From 26th October 2024, employers will need to comply with a new duty to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment of employees. This follows the passing of the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023.
Sexual harassment is defined under s.26 EqA as being where a person (A) harasses another (B) by engaging in unwanted conduct of a sexual nature and the conduct has the purpose or effect of either, violating B’s dignity or, creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for B
It is important to note that the scope of the duty includes not only sexual harassment committed by another worker or an agent acting on behalf of the company but also third parties, such as members of the public, who the employee has contact with during the course of their employment.
What constitutes ‘reasonable steps’ will vary from employer to employer and should take into account factors such as size, nature of work, resources, types of third parties to which workers will have contact, and the likelihood of workers having contact with them.
To comply with the obligations imposed by the Act, employers should consider:
- Carrying out risk assessments to evaluate the risk of their workers being exposed to sexual harassment and consider steps which can be taken to minimise such risk;
- Identifying any risk of their workers being sexually harassed by third parties (e.g. customers and suppliers) and make them aware that they operate a zero tolerance policy towards sexual harassment;
- Consulting with workers and their representatives to discuss practical steps that can be taken in the workplace to prevent sexual harassment;
- Updating their policies and procedures relating to sexual harassment to clarify workers’ expected behaviours and complaints protocols; and
Providing regular training to all staff on the prevention of sexual harassment and specific training to managers on dealing with complaints and escalation.