Employers across the Midlands will have a duty to protect their staff from sexual harassment with the introduction of strict new laws.

The workplace alert comes from employment specialist Sally Morris, who says that under the new legislation coming into force on 26 October, employers must take a proactive approach to prevent sexual harassment of their workers or face action from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Ms Morris, partner and head of employment at law firm mfg Solicitors, has urged bosses to be aware of their obligations under The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality) Act 2023.

She said: “Employers have always had a duty to protect their employees from discrimination but these new laws put more onerous obligations on companies to shield their staff with regards to sexual harassment.

“This legislation will introduce a mandatory duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees. Vitally, a failure to do so will mean that Employment Tribunals can award an uplift of up to 25% to an employee’s discrimination compensation where it finds that there has been a breach of the duty. That’s a real game changer.”

The new legislation is being introduced following concerns that workers currently receive inadequate protection against sexual harassment, with the Commission making it clear that employers must take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace among their own staff and also by third parties.

Ms Morris said reasonable steps could include introducing a specific Sexual Harassment Policy, training staff in relation to sexual harassment, providing support services to complainants, and carrying out assessments to identify areas of risk.

She added: “Employers will need to take steps to prevent sexual harassment taking place and put further measures in place to stop it happening again where it discovers that it has already done so.

“What is considered “reasonable” will vary from employer to employer and depend on factors such as size and resource of the employer, the sector the employer operates in, the working environment, the risk present in the workplace, and the types of third parties workers may come into contact with.

“More than anything, employers should be fully aware of their duties before the new laws sweep into force at the end of this month. Failure to do so will present a wide range of problems both commercially and reputationally facing action from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.”

Businesses looking for further advice can email Sally through sally.morris@mfgsolicitors.com