Worker Protection Act: how should employers prepare?
From October, new legislation will require businesses to take ‘reasonable’ steps to protect their employees from sexual harassment at work. Employers will have a duty to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment of their employees, under new legislation expected to come into force on 26 October. Under the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, if a tribunal finds an employer failed to take steps to protect workers, it will be able to order them to pay a 25 per cent uplift to any award of compensation for sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is defined by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) as “unwanted conduct of a sexual nature” that has the purpose or effect of “violating a worker’s dignity” or “creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that worker”. The EHRC published updated guidance on sexual harassment on 9 July in anticipation of the Act coming into force, which was open for consultation until 6 August. It advises employers that they will have an “anticipatory duty” to prevent sexual harassment, meaning they should not wait until an incident takes place before taking action. The guidance further highlights that the EHRC will have power to take “enforcement
