Updates to Sexual Harassment Legislation
In October 2024, new legislation the ‘Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023’ will introduce a duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent the sexual harassment of employees. Failure to take such steps leaves employers open to a 25% uplift to any compensation awarded against them for sexual harassment. The positive and proactive duty is introduced with the aim of decreasing the opportunity of sexual harassment within the workplace.Sexual Harassment occurs when a person engages in unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that has the purpose of effect of;
Violating someone’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.
Previous legislation already provides employees with protection against sexual harassment in the workplace. However the amendment to the Act imposes the mandatory duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, which includes from third parties. The legislation has not defined what would be considered ‘reasonable’, and as such, decisions made by tribunals will be on a case by case basis for each individual employer. The preventative duty means that employers should not wait until an incident of sexual harassment has taken place before acting. Employers should:
- Consider the risks of sexual harassment occurring in the course of employment
- Consider what steps it could take to reduce those risks and prevent sexual harassment of their workers
- Consider which of those steps it would be reasonable for it to take
- Implement those reasonable steps
Further, the EHRC guidance for preventing sexual harassment at work suggests that this may include;
Adopting an effective anti-harassment policy
Engaging with your staff
Assessing and taking steps to reduce risks in your workplace
Training/Reporting
Act swiftly when a complaint is made and protect the complainant
Clients of NYES HR have access to a wealth of support and resources contained within our NYES HR toolkits, available through SLA online. Support with specific cases is also available through the NYES HR team, please get in touch with your nominated advisers to discuss. Where specific allegations of harassment are made, clients and non-clients have access to additional commissioned support through providing independent investigations in complex situations which warrant independence from the setting or where there are capacity challenges. If you are not already a client of NYES Human Resources, and wish to discuss how we might support your organisation, please get in touch: email: nyes@northyorks.gov.uk or call 01609 533 222