Changes To The Law On Sexual Harassment
It seems like a week doesn’t go by without another news headline about sexual harassment in the workplace.
From next month, the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill will strengthen existing protection for workers against sexual harassment. The new law will place a new duty on employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment.
According to the law, ‘harassment’ covers 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 or offensive environment for them. Sexual harassment is unwanted conduct of a sexual nature which has that impact.’
A protected characteristic is as set out in the Equality Act 2010 and includes gender, age, race, disability, sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief, gender reassignment, marital status or civil partnership. An employee who feels that they have been treated differently because of a protected characteristic can make a claim of discrimination to an employment tribunal.
Any claim on the grounds of discrimination is uncapped at tribunal. In addition, tribunals will have the power to increase compensation by up to 25% if they find an employer has breached this duty. As well as the financial costs of a claim against the business, cases of sexual harassment impact on management and HR time, potentially legal costs, damage to a company’s reputation and on other members of the team.
The law on harassment related to a protected characteristic applies when someone:
has a relevant protected characteristic
is harassed because they are thought to have a certain protected characteristic when they do not
is harassed because they have a connection with someone with a certain protected characteristic
witnesses harassment, if what they've seen has violated their dignity or created an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive working environment for them
Harassment may include, for example:
unwanted physical conduct, including touching, pinching, pushing and grabbing
unwelcome sexual advances or suggestive behaviour (which the harasser may perceive as harmless)
offensive e-mails, text messages or social media content
mocking, mimicking or belittling a person's disability
A person may be harassed even if they were not the intended "target". For example, a person may be harassed by racist jokes about a different ethnic group if the jokes create an offensive environment.
So what does this mean in practice for businesses?
It is important for businesses to make it clear to all members of their teams what they expect in terms of behaviour, what everyone’s rights and responsibilities are, and what the consequences are likely to be for failing to meet these expectations. This can be achieved in the following ways:
Policies
A policy should define sexual harassment, give examples of what it is and outline everyone’s responsibilities for preventing and tackling it, as well as setting out how to raise a formal complaint about harassment.
There need to be clear reporting channels for complaints and the business needs to respond to these promptly, fairly and thoroughly. Any evidence of discriminatory behaviour or harassment among staff needs to be investigated and acted on swiftly and a clear message sent out that such behaviour will not be tolerated.
Training
There should be regular training sessions for all staff so that they understand what sexual, and other forms of, harassment is and their role in preventing/addressing it. This normally includes on-boarding training as well as regular updates.
As part of management training, line managers need to understand the legal context, the policy and process for dealing with any concerns, and their responsibilities both in terms of setting culture.
Culture
Senior leaders and managers set the tone for expectations around workplace behaviour. They need to embed and live the values and behaviour that underpin dignity, respect and inclusion. They also need to call out unacceptable behaviours to nip things in the bud at an early stage.
If you would like any support in preparing for the new law, please get in touch.
Sarah Darbyshire FCIPD
HR Consultant and Director
HR Solutions Yorkshire Limited
HR Strategy - Business Change - Management Development - Employee Relations - Board Advisor
01937 591577 | sarah@hrsolutionsyorkshire.co.uk | http://hrsolutionsyorkshire.co.uk
LinkedIn : www.linkedin.com/in/sarahdarbyshirefcipd/
