The Worker Protection Bill: Is your business ready?

By Lauren Pickard

The Government has confirmed it supports the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill. The Bill is likely to come into force next year, so what does this mean for employers?

Lauren Pickard, solicitor and executive director at CMP Legal, explains.

The liability of employers will be extended by the legislation and new financial penalties will be introduced, so it is important employers are prepared –and now is the perfect time to get ahead of the game as it goes through Parliament.

There are two key changes that will directly affect employers’ policies and procedures, and the training they provide to their employees.

New Liability Over Employee Harassment

The first is that employers will be liable for the harassment of their employees, by their customers, clients and third parties such as consultants or agents.

It is important to note this is not limited only to sexual harassment. Employers may be liable if they fail to take all reasonable steps to prevent the third party from committing the harassment.

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policies and procedures regarding diversity, equality and harassment.

However, they will no doubt need to go further than this by evidencing in what ways they ensured the third parties they work with were required to adhere to their policies and procedures.

Still, this is likely not to be enough, training will also be paramount for employees but also in respect of third parties.

Excellent complaints-handling by both employers and third parties will also be essential so that employee complaints, and procedures to keep complainants and alleged harassers separate during investigations, are implemented.

DUTY OF CARE

The second change the Bill introduces is a new duty on employers to prevent their employees from suffering sexual harassment in the workplace.

This new law will be specific to sexual harassment. Again, employers will need to implement robust policies and training with its workforce, including having carefully planned procedures for dealing with any complaint of sexual harassment.

Under the new legislation though, where an employment tribunal finds that an employer has failed in its duty to prevent sexual harassment, it can impose a 25% uplift to compensation.

At present, it is unlikely that employers are taking any such reasonable steps, leaving them wide open to potential claims as soon as the legislation comes into force.

What steps would be reasonable then for an employer to take to prevent third parties from harassing their employees?

As is often the case in employment tribunal matters, what is reasonable will largely depend on the size and resources, including HR resources, of the employer –with large employers that have in-house HR teams being held to the highest standards.

Employers will be required to evidence vigorous

This will have a direct financial impact on employers. Under the new legislation, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will be able to take enforcement action against employers for a breach (or suspected breach) of the duty to prevent sexual harassment. These changes are significant.

The key takeaway from this is that employers need to ensure they have up-to-date equality, discrimination, anti-harassment and bullying policies in place now, with a plan in place for managing third party compliance going forwards.

To assist employers to keep up to date on equality legislation we are running a training course on Thursday 4 May 2023. For more information, call 01246 956 440 or email lauren.pickard@cmp.legal