Q&A What steps must employers take to fulfill new duty relating to prevention of workplace sexual harassment

Q:      I read about the new legislation relating to sexual harassment in the workplace and the new duty on employers to prevent it happening. As an employer I am keen to comply as I understand it could cost me dearly because there will be no cap on the compensation that could be awarded. However, what I read did not make clear what I need to do to fulfill my new duty. Please can you explain?

A:       You are correct in that The Worker Protection Act introduces a new mandatory duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees in the course of their employment. This includes harassment by third parties.

The updated guidance provides that what is ‘reasonable’ will vary from employer to employer and will depend on the size of business, the sector in which it operates and its resources. The duty relates to sexual harassment only and not to other protected characteristics such as race, disability etc.

Discussing your specific business with an employment solicitor to identify what steps you can take may be helpful, but in broad terms you would be expected to carry out a risk assessment of sexual harassment occurring in the course of your employee’s work and consider what steps could be taken to reduce those risks. Once you have identified the steps you could take, consider which would be reasonable to take and implement them.

Risk factors to look at might be power imbalances, job insecurity, lone working, the presence of alcohol, customer-facing duties, particular events that might potentially raise tensions, a lack of workforce diversity, secondment. Common risk hotspots are inappropriate text and social media messages and personal relationships in the workplace.

Failure to comply with the new preventative duty could result in the EHRC taking enforcement action against you, and if a sexual harassment case against you succeeds in an employment tribunal compensation awarded could be increased by up to 25%.

This question has been answered by James Denton, a Solicitor with GHP Legal.  If you would like to speak to someone about this or any other legal matter, please visit our website www.ghplegal.com and use the contact us form, or call us on: Wrexham 01978 291456, Llangollen 01978 860313, Oswestry 01691 659194