Duty to prevent sexual harassment at work

Ahead of the implementation of the duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment at work, the EHRC has published its Consultation on its technical guidance on sexual harassment and harassment at work. This will form the guidance to employers on how to follow the new law.

It is only in draft form at the moment and may change after the consultation, but elements to note at this stage are:

• It advocates a risk assessment approach: assessing the risks for particular industries, employers and job roles and considering and implementing steps that are appropriate in those contexts
• It makes clear that it considers the duty to extend to preventing sexual harassment of workers by third parties (eg customers). Individuals still do not have the right to bring a standalone claim against their employer for third party harassment, but the employer is under a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent third party harassment and a failure to comply with that duty could lead to the EHRC requiring the employer to take action to prevent such harassment.

A number of employers are already planning their training programmes in advance of the implementation of this duty as training will form an important part of an employer’s strategy for preventing sexual harassment in the workplace.