Duty to Prevent Sexual Harassment

Starting from 26th October 2024, a new legal requirement will come into effect under the Workers Protection Act 2023. This means that all employers will have a clear responsibility to actively prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. A statutory code of practice will be introduced to guide employers on the steps they should take to ensure a safe and respectful working environment. While the changes don’t officially begin until next year, it’s important to start preparing now to protect your employees and business.

Government Equalities Office reported in 2020 “Overall, 29% of those in employment experienced some form of sexual harassment in their workplace or work-related environment in the last 12 months. Unwelcome sexual jokes and unwelcome staring were the most common forms of sexual harassment experienced in the workplace (by 15% and 10% of those in work respectively), 9 of the 15 sexual harassment behaviours were experienced by at least one in twenty (5%) in the workplace in the last 12 months.”

 

What Constitutes Sexual Harassment?

Sexual harassment is unwanted conduct of a sexual nature which has the purpose or effect of:

• Violating an employee’s dignity; or
• Creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for the employee.

Examples can include:

• Comments or jokes.
• Displaying sexually graphic photos.
• Sexual advances.
• Sexual gestures.
• Sexual posts on social media.
• Unwanted contact.

Impact of Sexual Harassment

The Impact of not complying with this new law could impact your business in a number of ways:

• Adverse impact on your employee’s mental and physical health.
• Increase in absence levels.
• Damage to your reputation.
• Negative impact on your employee retention and recruitment.
• Overall, an increase in business costs for these reasons.
• A negative impact on the company culture and employee engagement.

So, What do you Need to Do?

As an employer, you must be able to demonstrate that you have taken reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment from happening. You will be required to have a policy and procedure that clearly outlines how claims of sexual harassment will be dealt with. In addition, training (specifically to managers) will need to be provided and evidenced.

It is recommended to have a stand-alone policy that clearly states what sexual harassment might look like in your business with examples relevant to your workplace. Furthermore, you should outline the steps you will take to handle a claim of sexual harassment and the potential sanctions.

What Constitutes a Reasonable Step?

Employers have a mandatory duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of employees in the course of their employment. It is not just a tick box exercise.

What is ‘reasonable’ will depend on all the circumstances including:

• The size of the employer.
• The resources available to the employer.
• The sector they operate in.
• The nature and risks they work in.

What steps the entertainment sector will be required are likely to differ to those in construction or an office environment.

Employers need to:

• Consider the risk of sexual harassment occurring in the workplace.
• Consider what steps it could take to reduce those risks.
• Consider which steps it would be reasonable to take.

There is a requirement to assess the risk to give you an indication of the risk you are facing, and this may vary within teams or departments.

There are a number of factors that you will need to consider, for example location (are employees isolated or an open plan office).

The Risks!

Employees can make complaints to the Equality & Human Rights Commission (EHRC), if they see you haven’t taken any preventative steps to show you have taken reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. The EHRC will have the power to carry out investigations and enforcement powers even if there has not been a specific sexual harassment incident.

An employee can bring a claim to the employment tribunal for breach of the preventative duty. The Act has also increased any compensation claims up by 25%. This applies to when an employee succeeds in a claim at an employment tribunal.

You also have a duty to prevent third parties (external parties your employees may come into contact with) from committing sexual harassment towards your employees. Therefore, it is vital that any agreements in place make reference to your sexual harassment policy.

How Hallidays HR can help

If you don’t have a policy or need one reviewing, please get in touch to ensure you are compliant with the new legislation. If you would like to discuss any of the above in more detail, then please do not hesitate to contact us on 0161 476 8276 or email. And of course, visit the website: Hallidays HR Website and our LinkedIn page: Hallidays HR LinkedIn