Equality watchdog: government needs to do more to prevent workplace harassment

The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill, currently being debated in Parliament, presents a valuable opportunity to strengthen the current safeguards against workplace harassment.

Almost three-quarters (72%) of the adult population have experienced sexual harassment at some point in their lifetime. Despite existing protections, it is evident that workplace sexual harassment remains widespread, often goes unreported, and is inadequately addressed by employers.

This places the burden on individuals, who may be traumatised by their experience, to pursue a tribunal claim in order to get redress.  

We welcome the Bill’s introduction of a proactive duty on employers to combat workplace sexual harassment by taking steps to prevent it occurring in the first place.

This is an important change. 

However, we are concerned about the removal of proposed protections in the Bill against harassment by third parties, such as customers, clients and patients.

Our Turning the Tables report revealed that third-party harassment was a particular issue for women working in customer-facing roles, with approximately a quarter of harassment cases reported involving perpetrators who were third parties.

Our report also indicated that sexual harassment by third parties is often mishandled, with some employers thinking it should be accepted it as a 'normal' aspect of the job.

Recent polling suggests that two in five young women have been harassed by a customer or client. Case law has also demonstrated that existing harassment provisions do not provide adequate protection against third-party harassment.

We urge the government to address this gap in protection and provide employers with the clarity necessary to ensure their workers are protected against harassment from customers, clients, and patients.