The UK Worker Protection
(Amendment of Equality
Act 2010) Bill:
an ESG perspective
With a view to coming into effect in Autumn 2024, the UK Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill was the subject of substantial changes over the summer.
The Bill, will amend the Equality Act 2010 and, as originally drafted, sought to tackle the issue of third-party harassment of employees by customers and clients, and introduce a new duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment (and reinforce this via additional financial penalties).
But, having made its way through the House of Commons, the House of Lords has expressed concerns over the “chilling effects” the third party provisions would have on the ability of people to express their opinions and the impact it could have on free speech. As a result, the third party provisions have been removed altogether.
Despite a much watered-down version of the Bill emerging, the Bill still forces businesses to do more to protect their staff. Sexual harassment of workers is widespread and under-reported. Organisations failing to take steps to protect their staff may struggle with recruitment and retention, decreased staff motivation and adverse PR resulting in loss of trade, as well as potential legal implications and associated financial penalties.
What are the changes?
The original draft of the Bill looked to impose a new additional duty on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent their staff from being sexually harassed at work. But the new draft now states that employers must only take reasonable steps. The difference between ‘reasonable’ steps and ‘all reasonable steps’ is significant. Whilst employers won’t be penalised for not taking every reasonable step, if they don’t do enough to prevent their staff from being sexually harassed, they may have to pay additional compensation to the victim (of up to 25% of their compensation). This is an additional duty and it only applies if an employee has brought a successful claim against their employer.
What are the challenges for businesses?
1. Training and education: your employees need to understand your policies, recognise what is and isn’t acceptable behaviour and know how to complain if they are sexually harassed. Training may be needed throughout the organisation, from senior management to shop floor to help embed a culture shift.
2. Document actions: you’ll need to create a well-documented paper trail to prove you have appropriate policies and staff training programmes in place, and have taken appropriate action against staff that breach your standards, should you end up in dispute.
3. Changing corporate culture and enforcement: in the context of sexual harassment, inappropriate and offensive comments are more common than unwanted touching. It’s particularly important to focus on ‘banter’ which many workers, incorrectly, see as harmless. That may require a culture shift. You’ll need to demonstrate the direction you’re heading as a business, and take your staff on that journey too. Your staff need to know what is and isn’t acceptable.
What actions should your business take?
1.
Conduct comprehensive audits: ask your staff questions about their experiences: are they being, or have been, sexually harassed by their colleagues or other people they come into contact with? How often does this happen? Have they reported it and if not, why not? If they did report, what happened and did they feel supported? This information will help you to determine who has been targeted and what steps you need to take to protect them.
2.
Find out who’s being targeted: do they have common characteristics (such as their race, sex, sexuality or age)? You may need to focus your efforts on protecting these groups to start with.
3.
Invest in compliance: Introduce a system so that staff can quickly and easily report and record incidents that happen to them or they witness.
4.
Update your policies: consider training leadership teams on sexual harassment and the role they have in preventing it across the workplace. Roll out training to all members of staff and invest in specific training for managers to help them enforce your approach. You may also want to reinforce these messages by putting up signs indicating that you take a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment and take appropriate action against anyone who does – which should include banning third party offenders from your premises.
5.
Support your staff: encourage a ‘speak out’ culture and support staff who raise concerns.
6.
Take action: deal with issues promptly, consistently and in line with your agreed approach.
7.
Monitor and adapt: ESG is an ongoing commitment. Monitor progress, seek feedback from stakeholders, and adapt your strategies, training and education as appropriate.
Expert opinion
Protecting staff against this sort of harassment should also be part of your ESG strategies. The UK Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill represents a pivotal moment in the intersection of business, ESG, and social responsibility. Although it’s been watered down, it still marks a significant change in attitudes and behaviours. By looking after your staff properly and prioritising their needs organisations can foster a workplace that values its employees and helps drive change in society.
Charlotte Rees-John, Jenny Arrowsmith
Partners