Advo HR specialist Sam Brown, highlights the ongoing the curse of sexual harassment in the workplace which has added focus with an upcoming change in legislation.
The #MeToo movement and cases over sexual harassment allegations against high profile employers such as McDonald’s and the NHS has made the prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace a number one issue. So, from 26th October 2024 employers will now be under a new legal duty to prevent sexual harassment of their employees in the workplace.
So, what exactly is sexual harassment and how do employers prevent it?
Sexual harassment is defined as “unwanted conduct of a sexual nature” that has the purpose or effect of “violating a worker’s dignity” or “creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that worker”.
And its not just your employees this relates to as employers may need to take positive steps to help prevent harassment of their employees by third parties too.
There is new legislation called the Worker Protection Act which is an amendment to the Equality Act which comes into effect in October 2024.
The new legislation will require employers to take ‘reasonable’ steps to protect their employees from sexual harassment at work.
Employers now have to take an “anticipatory duty” to prevent sexual harassment, which means acting now, proactively, to prevent harassment and not waiting until an incident happens.
And the consequences of noncompliance with the up-and-coming law are not small.
The guidance further highlights that the Equality and Human Rights Commission HRC will have power to take “enforcement action” against employers that do not comply. And if your employee successfully takes you to a tribunal- and you as the employer failed to take steps to protect them, the court may order you to pay a 25 per cent uplift to any award of compensation for sexual harassment.
So, what should employers do to demonstrate compliance with the new duty and what reasonable steps should be taken?
What’s reasonable will differ depending on the business but Advo advises that a good starting point would be to ensure existing policies on sexual harassment are comprehensive and up to date, along with establishing “clear and confidential reporting mechanisms” for employees to report incidents of harassment.
Training on the issue is strongly recommended not only for managers to educate them on their duty and how to look for behavioural changes but for employees so they are clear on the company stance and what to do if there is an issue.
It would be wise to share anti-harassment policies with third parties, for example by making signage visible and displaying anti tolerance notices clearly.
Taking swift and formal action for any instances also sends a clear message that harassment will not be tolerated, and the penalties will be severe.
Speak to one of our Advo HR Consultants today to discuss a review of your current policies and our tailored sexual harassment and other in-house training options.
