Eight ways to comply with the employer’s new duty to prevent sexual harassment of employees.

The government has confirmed its plans to bring the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 into force on Saturday 26th October 2024.  The Act will require employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to protect employees from sexual harassment in the course of their employment.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will be able to enforce the new duty, and employment tribunals will be able to award an uplift of up to 25% to an employee’s discrimination compensation where they find a breach of the duty.

What amounts to reasonable steps?

The EHRC has produced an eight-step guide on preventing sexual harassment at work.  It illustrates the types of action you can take to prevent and deal with sexual harassment in the workplace. The steps are not exhaustive, but implementing them should help you take positive action to prevent and deal with workplace sexual harassment.

Step 1: develop an effective anti-harassment policy

A good policy should:

  • specify who is protected
  • state that sexual harassment will not be tolerated and is unlawful
  • state that the law requires employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their workers
  • state that harassment or victimisation may lead to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal
  • state that aggravating factors, such as abuse of power over a more junior colleague, will be taken into account when deciding what disciplinary action to take
  • define sexual harassment and provide clear examples of it – examples should be relevant to your working environment and reflect the diverse range of people that harassment may affect
  • include an effective procedure for receiving and responding to complaints of harassment
  • deal with third-party harassment (such as by customers or service users).

The section about third-party harassment should explain clearly:

  • That the law requires employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment by third parties.
  • While an individual cannot bring a claim for third-party harassment alone, it can still result in legal liability when raised in other types of claim.
  • Harassment will not be tolerated.
  • Workers are encouraged to report it.
  • The steps that will be taken to prevent it.
  • The steps that will be taken to remedy a complaint and prevent it from happening again, for example, warning a customer about their behaviour, banning a customer, reporting any criminal acts to the police or sharing information with other branches of the business.

The overall policy should also:

  • include a commitment to review the policy at regular intervals, monitor its effectiveness and implement any changes that may be required
  • cover all areas of the business, including any overseas sites, subject to any applicable local laws.

Step 2: engage your staff

Conduct regular one-to-ones, staff surveys and exit interviews, and have open-door policies. These should help you understand any potential issues and whether your current steps are working.

Make sure that all workers know:

  • How they can report sexual harassment.
  • What your sexual harassment policy is.
  • The consequences of breaching the policy.

Step 3: assess and take steps to reduce risk in your workplace

Completing a risk assessment will help you comply with the preventative duty. It should consider factors that might increase the likelihood of sexual harassment and the steps that can be taken to minimise them.

For example:

  • Where are the power imbalances?
  • Is there a lack of diversity in your workforce?
  • Is there job insecurity for a particular group or role?
  • Are staff working alone or at night?
  • Do your staff have customer-facing duties?
  • Are customers or staff drinking alcohol?
  • Are staff expected to attend external events, conferences or training?
  • Do staff socialise outside work?
  • Do staff engage in crude or disrespectful behaviour at work?

Step 4: reporting

Consider using a reporting system (such as an online or independent telephone service) that allows workers to raise an issue anonymously or in name.

Explain clearly to all workers:

  • What is considered acceptable behaviour.
  • How to recognise sexual harassment.
  • What to do if they experience or witness it.

Keep centralised, confidential records of all concerns raised, formal and informal. This enables you to identify trends.

Step 5: training

Workers, including managers and senior staff, should be trained in:

  • What sexual harassment in the workplace looks like.
  • What to do if they experience or witness it.
  • How to handle any complaints of harassment.
  • In industries where third-party harassment from customers is more likely, workers should also be trained on how to deal with that.

You should review the effectiveness of any training and offer refresher sessions at regular intervals.

Step 6: what to do if you receive a harassment complaint

Act immediately to resolve the complaint, considering how the worker wants it resolved.

Respect the confidentiality of all parties.

Protect the complainant from ongoing harassment or being victimised during an investigation or complaint. For example, move the alleged harasser to another team or site. You should also protect witnesses of sexual harassment.

If a worker makes a complaint of harassment that may be a criminal offence, you should speak to the individual about whether they want to report the matter to the police and support them with this if they go ahead.

Only use confidentiality agreements where they are lawful, necessary, and appropriate.

Communicate the outcome of the complaint and outline any appeals process to the complainant promptly.

Step 7: dealing with harassment by third parties

Harassment by a third party, such as a customer, client, patient, or supplier, should be treated just as seriously as that by a colleague.

Take steps to prevent this type of harassment, including implementing reporting mechanisms or assessing high-risk workplaces where staff might be left alone with customers.

Step 8: monitor and evaluate your actions

It is important to regularly evaluate the effectiveness of the steps you take to prevent sexual harassment and implement any changes resulting from that. This will help you comply with your preventative duty and protect your staff from sexual harassment.

You could evaluate the effectiveness of the steps you have taken by:

  • reviewing informal and formal complaints data to see if there are any trends or issues and appropriate actions that could be taken
  • surveying staff anonymously on their experiences of sexual harassment, including whether they have witnessed or been subjected to harassment, whether they have or would in the future report it (and if not, why not) and what further steps they think you could take
  • comparing reported complaints with survey feedback to ensure you have an accurate understanding of your workplace.

Source:https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/employer-8-step-guide-preventing-sexual-harassment-work

The mandatory duty to prevent sexual harassment comes into effect on Saturday 26th October 2024.  Get in touch if you would like Watershed to create a tailored training programme to help your business to meet its legal obligations and enhance its workplace culture.