The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 (the “Act”) became law in England, Wales and Scotland on 26 October 2023, and will come into force in October 2024.
The Act, which introduces a positive legal duty on employers to take reasonable steps to protect their employees from sexual harassment at work, builds upon existing legislation and a recent push by the UK's financial regulators to tackle non-financial misconduct.
Where an Employment Tribunal (“ET”) finds an employee has been sexually harassed at work, and determines that compensation should be awarded, the ET must now consider whether the employer breached their duty to take reasonable steps to prevent the harassment. Where an ET finds that an employer breached its duty, it will have discretion to increase the employee's compensation by up to 25%. There is currently no cap on the compensation that can be awarded for sexual harassment claims.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission will also have jurisdiction to bring enforcement action.
While the bill was originally drafted to re-introduce a duty on employers to protect their staff from harassment by third parties (which was abolished in 2013), the House of Lords removed this provision before the bill became law.
Employers should consider reviewing their policies on harassment and related issues, and ensure their staff are properly trained to safely identify and intervene in situations where sexual harassment may arise.
Visit us at mayerbrown.com
Mayer Brown is a global services provider comprising associated legal practices that are separate entities, including Mayer Brown LLP (Illinois, USA), Mayer Brown International LLP (England & Wales), Mayer Brown (a Hong Kong partnership) and Tauil & Chequer Advogados (a Brazilian law partnership) and non-legal service providers, which provide consultancy services (collectively, the "Mayer Brown Practices"). The Mayer Brown Practices are established in various jurisdictions and may be a legal person or a partnership. PK Wong & Nair LLC ("PKWN") is the constituent Singapore law practice of our licensed joint law venture in Singapore, Mayer Brown PK Wong & Nair Pte. Ltd. Details of the individual Mayer Brown Practices and PKWN can be found in the Legal Notices section of our website. "Mayer Brown" and the Mayer Brown logo are the trademarks of Mayer Brown.
© Copyright 2023. The Mayer Brown Practices. All rights reserved.
This Mayer Brown article provides information and comments on legal issues and developments of interest. The foregoing is not a comprehensive treatment of the subject matter covered and is not intended to provide legal advice. Readers should seek specific legal advice before taking any action with respect to the matters discussed herein.
