This change places greater responsibility on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent harassment from occurring, ensuring a safer and more respectful work environment for all.
“Harassment” is defined under the Equality Act 2010 as “unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating of offensive environment”.
Previously, employers could argue a defence to harassment claims if they could show that they took “all reasonable steps” to prevent it. Now, however, the duty requires an employer to proactively prevent harassment in the first place, rather than just reacting to it.
Failure to be proactive in these obligations may result in a successful harassment claim against the employer, and the Tribunal may increase an employee’s compensation by up to 25% as a result of the employer’s failure.
What should employers do?
To comply with the new legal requirements, there are a number of changes that an employer can make, as follows:
- Ensure Company policies are up to date and that they make it clear what is considered unacceptable behaviour. These policies should also clearly set out the relevant procedures for reporting any instances of such behaviour.
- Ensure that there are appropriate avenues of communication so that employees can report any incidents of harassment and bullying, and actively encourage employees to report any harassment or bullying they witness or experience.
- Assess the working environment and the way that employees interact with each other, and respond to this accordingly. Employers should not wait until a complaint of harassment is made before taking action.
- Provide regular, up-to-date training to employees about what is deemed acceptable and unacceptable. The extent of this may vary from company to company and there is rarely a “one size fits all” approach.
How can we help?
Now is a good time to review your current policies and update them so they are in line with new employer obligations.
We can also help you communicate any changes in policies to your employees and generally make sure that you, as an employer, understand how to be proactive in preventing harassment.
The Employment Team at Ward Gethin Archer are here to help, so get in touch if you need assistance in updating your policies, or understanding your obligations.
This article aims to supply general information, but it is not intended to constitute advice. Every effort is made to ensure that the law referred to is correct at the date of publication and to avoid any statement which may mislead. However, no duty of care is assumed to any person and no liability is accepted for any omission or inaccuracy. Always seek our specific advice.
