Sexual Harassment Preventative Duty

It’s been one year since the preventative duty on sexual harassment came into force under the Worker Protection Act 2024. Now, with the government’s Employment Rights Bill, the standards for employers could soon be raised even higher.

The Worker Protection Act 2024 introduced a new duty on employers to take “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their staff and workers during the course of their employment. This meant employers needed to take reasonable, proactive measures to prevent sexual harassment from occurring in the workplace.

Under the Employment Rights Bill, the expectations may go further by:

• Requiring employers to take “all reasonable steps” – not just “reasonable steps” to prevent harassment,
• Employers will be responsible for third-party harassment, meaning for incidents involving customers, clients or contractors. This applies to every type of harassment, not just sexual harassment.

This strengthening of the duty is anticipated to come into effect October 2026.

 

Ensure you are Compliant!

Failure to comply with the current duty could result in the EHRC taking enforcement action, and/or an uplift of 25% in the Employment Tribunal if a worker brings a claim.

Ensuring compliance with the current duty can appear complex and daunting. Our Alpha Advisors made a ‘Sexual Harassment Training Pack’ for employers to utilise, assisting compliance with this legislation.

Alpha will advise on the future amendments to this duty and what steps employers should be making to ensure compliance.

If you have any questions or require any assistance, please drop us a message or contact us by email alpha@martinkaye.co.uk or telephone 0845 450 1561