The UK government has announced that it will support the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill (the Bill), which represents one of the most notable changes to UK workplace discrimination law since the 2010 Equality Act. The Bill imposes a proactive duty on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent the harassment of its employees, including by third parties, with a compensation uplift where they fail to do so.
Why the Bill is being introduced
In 2018, the Women and Equalities Select Committee (WESC) published a damning report on the prevailing extent of sexual harassment in the workplace. This report, along with campaigns by the Fawcett Society and other groups, led to the UK government undertaking its own consultation from 11 July to 2 October 2019, which found that 54% of respondents had experienced harassment at work.
High-levels of harassment, and notably sexual harassment, in the workplace has been common place for years. The 2022 Gender Equality in the Workplace report by Randstad found that 72% of the 6,000 women polled had experienced or witnessed harassing behaviour by male colleagues, and that 67% of them had experienced some form of gender discrimination. 32% of the women polled felt that their careers had been affected by sexual harassment.
Studies have shown that harassment is not limited to male colleagues, but is also inflicted by third parties. A 2018 report by the TUC found that 36% of 18-34 year olds who have experienced some form of workplace harassment said that the perpetrator was a third party.