New statutory duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment

From 26 October 2024, a new statutory duty, Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees, in the course of their employment, will come into force. To help employers comply with the statutory duty, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has produced a Statutory Code of Practice on sexual harassment in the workplace which is currently out for consultation.

Additionally, the employment tribunal will have the power to increase sexual harassment compensation by up to 25%. The amount of the compensation uplift must reflect the extent to which the tribunal considers the employer has breached the duty.

What is sexual harassment?

Sexual harassment occurs where a person engages in unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that has the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.

Once the new duty is in force, where an employment tribunal finds that sexual harassment has taken place, it will then have to consider whether the employer has failed to comply with the new statutory duty to prevent sexual harassment.

Employees will not be able to bring standalone claims for breach of the duty, but the EHRC will be able to take enforcement action against employers for breach of the duty.

What action can employers take ahead of the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023?

Employers should look to complete the following action points in preparation for the new statutory duty:

• Review your sexual harassment policy in light of the EHRC Code, once finalised
• Refresh sexual harassment training and run it regularly
• Ensure sexual harassment complaints are investigated properly and resolved
• Make sure a senior person has responsibility for discrimination and harassment issues, and for overseeing your harassment policies and procedures.

Contact us

For information on how we can support you with preparing for this upcoming change, please contact a member of our Employment team or complete a contact form, below.