Last week, an alliance of unions, charities and women’s rights groups initiated a campaign calling for employers to be held legally liable if they fail to protect their staff from sexual harassment at work.

As it stands, responsibility for reporting sexual harassment at work lies with the victim, and employers are currently under no legal obligation to prevent this from happening through any proactive means.

The alliance, which goes by the name This Is Not Working, has launched a petition that seeks to shift the burden onto employers, calling for clearer policies and mandatory training for staff and managers.

It has pointed to research carried out by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which found that:

  • More than half of women have been sexually harassed at work but 79% don’t feel able to report these incidents to their employer.
  • Seven out of 10 LGBT workers have experienced sexual harassment but felt unable to come forward due to fears of being “outed” at work.
  • One in eight women have experienced unwanted sexual touching or attempts to kiss them at work, and 28% have received comments of a sexual nature about their body or clothes.
  • A quarter of victims felt that their disclosures would not be taken seriously, and 15% thought that reporting sexual misconduct would have a negative impact on their career prospects.

The Fawcett Society chief executive, Sam Smethers, said: “We need to strengthen the law to better protect women from harassment from co-workers, clients or customers and we need a new duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment. They have to take responsibility for their own workplace culture.”

0 %
of women don't feel able to report workplace sexual harassment to their employer

So why is this happening now?

It’s now near enough impossible to scour the news without coming across an article related to sexual harassment. In the last couple of weeks alone, headlines have included a 16th woman coming forward to accuse Donald Trump of sexual misconduct, Google rejecting pleas to reform its sexual harassment policy, and a report which revealed that one in 12 NHS staff are sexually harassed at work.

As a society, we’re becoming increasingly vocal about instances of sexual harassment in all areas of life – whether it be unwelcome touching at a social event or sexual remarks made by a colleague – and progressively frustrated about the ineffectiveness of current protections.

While the government has claimed that it “strongly condemns sexual harassment” in all forms, it is now almost a year since the government responded to recommendations made by the Women and Equalities Committee, and although it appeared to be receptive to the majority of proposals made, campaigners have become inpatient waiting for the wheels to be set in motion.

In practical terms, the report sets out a number of recommendations, including the following.

Committee recommendations and government response

"We need to strengthen the law to better protect women from harassment from co-workers, clients or customers and we need a new duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment. They have to take responsibility for their own workplace culture."

HR Manager, Empire Cinema

Shifting the burden of proof

Placing a mandatory duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment is just one of the ways the Women and Equalities Committee is attempting to put the responsibility for protecting women in the workplace firmly in employers’ hands.

In a similar fashion, the Committee is also proposing to shift the burden of proof in discrimination cases from alleged victims to employers. In a recent report, it suggested that employers are “not afraid to discriminate” against staff because they are “unlikely to be held to account”. The problem here, it suggests, is enforcement, not only in sexual harassment cases but also cases of potential maternity discrimination, for example.

Chair of the Committee Maria Miller said: “One thing is absolutely clear, the burden of enforcement must shift away from the individual.”

She added: We need a critical mass of cases to build a culture where compliance with the Equality Act is the norm.”

James Tamm

Director of Legal Services

Expert Comment

Several recent reports indicate that employees are not willing to report harassment. This is supported by the latest set of Employment Tribunal statistics which were published in June. If you ignore the anomaly of 2,785 sex discrimination claims being lodged in Scotland during August 2018 (compared to just 18 in July), then the number of these cases increased by 18.6% in FY19. Significantly, that is below the national average, which saw the total number of claims climb 26% year on year. Given the publicity around the issue, that dichotomy is hard to explain.

Clearly only a tiny percentage of employees subjected to harassment feel able to bring legal action and no doubt the current rules are part of the reason for that. It is clear something needs to change as the status quo is not working. However, any changes need to be carefully considered and well-reasoned. In that sense, the latest government consultation is welcomed and no doubt some of the recommendations from the Women and Equalities Committee will be adopted. However, only time will tell exactly what they will be.

What happens now?

The government is set to consult on workplace sexual harassment soon. In the meantime, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has recently adopted a treaty that will see the UK take on a global set of standards in relation to preventing gender-based violence and harassment at work. This will involve developing national laws to prohibit workplace violence and provide worker protection and victim services.

Need support?

If you require professional assistance with handling claims of sexual harassment in your workplace, Ellis Whittam’s team of qualified Employment Law specialists can provide pragmatic support. We can also create a bespoke Employee Handbook that sets out your stance on harassment, outlines what is expected of employees, and explains how misconduct will be dealt with. For more information, call 0345 226 8393.

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