Prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace- New EHRC templates published

Nikki Hampson
Solicitor
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The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is an independent regulator which ensures that equality and human rights law is enforced within the UK. 

As you will recall from our recent JEL Alert, employers are now under a positive legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of workers and employees.

The EHRC have published new templates of (i) a sexual harassment prevention checklist, (ii) a sexual harassment prevention action plan; and (iii) a monitoring log to assist employers in complying with the new duty to prevent sexual harassment at work.

All employers need to be alert to the risk of sexual harassment in the workplace, and to the notable legal, financial, and reputational consequences that can arise if such behaviour is not prevented.  The risk of sexual harassment is not sector-specific; it can arise irrespective of the size of your operation and/or the sector or industry in which your team operates; it can arise from employee culture, from a lack of accountability, in plain sight or ‘behind the scenes.’

The new EHRC checklist was designed for the hospitality sector, but it can be modified to apply to other sectors. When creating a checklist for your own organisation, the EHRC guidance suggests that you should consider your methods of communication with staff, your working environment, and your current working practices. You should think about who is best placed to operate and monitor the checklist. Your checklist clearly needs to be easy to manage and should be communicated and used effectively across your workforce.

The new EHRC action plan recommends that employers make a written record of all steps taken to prevent sexual harassment. This will help you to ensure your combined preventative approach, including completion of your checklist, becomes a normal business practice.

Other steps which could form part of your action plan include, but are not limited to:

• Updating your sexual harassment policies;
• Risk assessing scenarios where sexual harassment may be more likely to occur in your organisation (within or outwith your premises);
• Seeking and obtaining staff input on what might be done within your organisation to prevent sexual harassment (this could be sought on an anonymous basis);
• Ensuring staff are aware of your policies and what they can do if they have any concerns about sexual harassment (whether their own, or relating to another); and
• Provide training to staff on their obligations and your policies on sexual harassment.

The EHRC recommends that the new EHRC monitoring log is completed after each shift to help you, as an employer, to determine whether your checklist is being used appropriately and whether adjustments can or should be made to your approach to better ensure compliance with your action plan and your preventative policies. Proactive use of these templates will ensure that your organisation is better placed to seek to defend any sexual harassment claim which, despite your best efforts, might arise.

The new templates can be accessed, here.

If you would like to discuss these templates, or if we can assist with any other employment law matter, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the team on 0141 331 5150.

Topics: Sexual harassment