Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Sexual harassmentLatest News

Employers should have legal duty to prevent sexual harassment

by Ashleigh Webber 27 Mar 2018
by Ashleigh Webber 27 Mar 2018

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has recommended that the Government places a legal duty on employers to take effective steps to prevent sexual harassment, and suggested an increase in the level of compensation for victims where this duty has been breached.

The recommendations, made in the EHRC’s Turning the tables: ending sexual harassment at work report, aim to promote greater transparency and strengthen legal protections for victims of sexual harassment in the workplace.

It said there should be a mandatory duty for employers to take reasonable steps to protect workers from harassment and victimisation by both employed staff and third parties such as customers or suppliers.

Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment: the rise of historical allegations

How to deal with bullying and harassment in the workplace

To do this, the Government should develop a statutory code of practice for employers to follow, specifying the steps they should take to prevent and respond to harassment allegations.

It said a breach of this duty should be considered unlawful under the Equality Act, which would be enforceable by the EHRC, and employment tribunals would be given the power to apply an uplift in compensation for victims by up to 25% if it is breached.

Rebecca Hilsenrath, chief executive of the EHRC, said: “Corrosive cultures have silenced individuals and sexual harassment has been normalised.

“We need urgent action to turn the tables in British workplaces; shifting from the current culture of people risking their jobs and health in order to report harassment, to placing the onus on employers to prevent and resolve it.”

The report also called on the Government to ban employers from using non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to protect their reputation in sexual harassment cases, and recommended that NDAs should only be used at the request of the victim.

Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said victims should be encouraged to come forward and employers should “genuinely listen to them when they do”, instead of “preventing them speaking out or hoping money will make the problem go away”.

The EHRC, which gathered evidence from around 1,000 individuals and employers, claimed employers took no action in around half of cases where a victim alleged that they had been harassed.

Senior colleagues were found to be the most common perpetrators, but almost a quarter of individuals said they had been harassed by customers or clients.

Unfortunately there are still a few employers who are unwilling to investigate harassment and would rather throw money at the situation,” – Aron Pope, Fox Williams

In February the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) circulated a warning against the use of NDAs in harassment cases. It renewed its caution this month, stating that they should not be used to prevent people from reporting wrongdoing.

Paul Philip, SRA CEO, said: “The public and the profession expects solicitors to act with integrity and uphold the rule of law. And most do. NDAs have a valid use, but not for covering up serious misconduct and in some cases potential crimes.”

Instead of using NDAs to suppress employees from talking about incidents of harassment, employers should focus their efforts on implementing proper reporting procedures and carefully investigate claims, suggested Aron Pope, partner at Fox Williams.

He explained: “It needs to be a top-down initiative, with emphasis from the most senior management that harassment is unacceptable… Employers don’t often place enough emphasis on training.”

He said that while improper use of NDAs is being discouraged, he noted that they still have their place when used at an appropriate time, such as when the incident has been thoroughly investigated.

“Unfortunately there are still a few employers who are unwilling to investigate harassment and would rather throw money at the situation,” Pope added.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The EHRC’s report also recommended that:

  • data from England, Scotland and Wales is collected every three years to determine the prevalence of sexual harassment and develop an action plan;
  • the Government extends the length of time an employee can bring a harassment claim to an employment tribunal to six months;
  • Acas develops targeted sexual harassment training for managers, staff and workplace sexual harassment “champions”;
  • employers publish their sexual harassment policy on their websites so current and potential employees are clear on what is being done to address the issue, and;
  • the Government develops an online tool to make harassment reporting easier.

An inquiry into workplace sexual harassment was launched by the Women and Equalities Committee earlier this year. It hoped to determine what actions employers and the Government could take to change workplace culture and encourage victims to come forward.

Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is a former editor of OHW+ and former HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support.

previous post
Number of EU workers searching for UK roles drops by 11%
next post
Employers worried about migrant worker restrictions post-Brexit

You may also like

Consultation launched after Supreme Court ‘sex’ ruling

20 May 2025

Ministers urged to outlaw misuse of NDAs

7 May 2025

BBC to ‘act immediately’ on workplace culture review

28 Apr 2025

Eight new equality laws in the pipeline

10 Apr 2025

Philip Green loses human rights case at ECHR

8 Apr 2025

Darlington nurses’ changing room case delayed to October

3 Apr 2025

Woman asked ‘why do you want to work’...

3 Apr 2025

Former minister calls for end to ‘two-tier’ use...

2 Apr 2025

Primark boss resigns after ‘error of judgment’

31 Mar 2025

Sullivan Review shows how ‘sex’ has been purged...

20 Mar 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+