The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act) Act 2023 amends the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 to create a new legal duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees in the workplace. It will come into force in Great Britain in October 2024. Different equality legislation applies in Northern Ireland.
It is likely that the ‘reasonable steps’ an employer is expected to take will mirror the types of steps an employer is expected to take under the currently available ‘reasonable steps’ defence to all unlawful discrimination claims (not just sexual harassment claims).
Where an employee succeeds in a claim for sexual harassment, and the employer is found to have breached its duty to take reasonable steps to avoid the sexual harassment, the Employment Tribunal will be able to uplift compensation by up to 25%. This compensation applies to all of the compensation that has been awarded for any type of unlawful harassment (not just sexual harassment).
Although the compensation uplift is only triggered if there has been sexual harassment, the uplift itself will apply to all of the compensation that has been awarded for any type of harassment (in a case where a claim is brought for more than one type of unlawful harassment).
Given the potential uplift that applies where sexual harassment is proven (and given awards for harassment are uncapped), this is a significant legal risk for employers who are unable to succeed in showing they took reasonable steps to prevent it.
See the fact sheet on ‘unlawful discrimination’ on the FSB Legal and Business hub for guidance.