New guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will be updated in line with a change in the law this month and put a duty of care on retail businesses to protect staff from sexual harassment by customers, suppliers, contractors and other third parties.
The Worker Protection Act 2023 comes into force on 26 October. The Bill has been adapted as it passed through Parliament. The obligation to ‘protect employees from sexual harassment from third parties’ – which would have included customers – was removed from the legislation.
However, the EHRC is updating its technical guidance and will keep this obligation in. A survey by employment consultants WorkNest found that 77% of retail businesses are still concerned by the impending change.
The EHRC will be able to take enforcement action in respect of non-compliance with the new duty. This could include investigating an employer and requiring employers to create action plans to prevent incidents.
However, an alarming number of businesses don’t have preparations underway for the new law, according to the WorkNest research, despite its implementation fast approaching. Just over a third (36%) of all businesses have the legislative changes on their radar but say they are only in the early stages of preparation.
When asked how much work their organisation needed to do in order to be compliant with the new rules, one in ten businesses (10%) admitted they needed to do ‘a lot’. Alarmingly, less than one percent (0.6%) could say they had no further work to do and were fully prepared to be compliant.
Lorna Gemmell, HR training manager and solicitor at WorkNest, said: “Failure to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment by third parties will be in breach of the preventive duty and our research found it’s still a concern for the majority of businesses.
“To comply in this area, businesses must adopt a zero-tolerance policy and take proactive steps to reduce the risk of third-party sexual harassment. Depending on the working environment, this could include signage, procedures for removing and banning customers and personal safety training for staff. Organisations should also encourage staff to report incidents and have a clear plan in place for dealing with any third-party harassment incidents.
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