From 30 October, employers will have a new legal duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent third parties from harassing their employees during the course of their employment. Third parties can include customers, clients, contractors, suppliers and members of the public. The protection extends beyond sexual harassment and includes other forms of unlawful harassment covered by the Equality Act 2010. 

These employment law changes mean that employers could be held liable where they fail to take all reasonable steps to prevent third-party harassment. The changes also strengthen the existing duty to prevent sexual harassment by raising the standard from taking reasonable steps to taking all reasonable steps. This places a greater emphasis on anticipating risks and taking preventative action, rather than simply responding after an incident has occurred.

Alongside South West-based animation studio Pushed, we have put together an explainer animation to help employers understand more about how the new legislation will work and how it will apply to them.

Watch the explainer animation below:

Next steps for employers

With the new third-party harassment duties coming into force imminently, employers should review the risks within their organisation and ensure they are taking all reasonable steps to prevent harassment. This should go beyond policies alone.

This could include reviewing risk assessments, providing appropriate training, ensuring employees have clear and accessible ways to report concerns, and considering how behavioural expectations are communicated to third parties.  Employers should also consider whether their arrangements with customers, suppliers and contractors give them appropriate mechanisms to intervene where concerns arise, including escalation routes and, where appropriate, contractual rights to require action to be taken.

Here at Kitson Boyce, our expert Employment Team is on hand to help you navigate these changes to employment law. Whether you need advice on reviewing existing policies or want to put appropriate measures in place to strengthen your approach to preventing harassment, our team can provide practical guidance to help you understand your responsibilities and protect your employees. 

Please get in touch with us for more information via the contact form on this page, by emailing [email protected], or by calling 01803 202020.