Employers have a mandatory duty to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Failing to comply with this duty puts you at risk of a tribunal awarding significantly more compensation to an employee who makes a successful sexual harassment claim against you. In addition, you may face reputational harm, low staff motivation, and recruitment issues. So, what is sexual harassment in the workplace, and what should you do to prevent it?
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What Amounts To Sexual Harassment In The Workplace?
The law defines sexual harassment as:
“Unwanted conduct of a sexual nature which has the purpose or effect of violating someone’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment for them.”
Someone’s conduct can amount to sexual harassment if it results in the effects listed above, even if they had not been the perpetrator’s intention. Equally, if someone intended to achieve the results listed above but their behaviour did not have the desired effect, it may nonetheless be sexual harassment.
The legal definition of sexual harassment is wide. It covers not only blatant acts of harassment, such as sexual assault but also behaviour that some may consider mere ‘banter’.
Some examples of what sexual harassment in the workplace may look like include the following:
- Rape
- Sexual assault
- Touching someone in a suggestive way, for example, by touching their leg
- Asking someone questions about their sex life
- Making inappropriate comments about an individual’s appearance or clothing
- Sexual jokes
- Displaying sexual material, for example, by way of a poster.
As we have explained above, it is no defence to a sexual harassment claim for a perpetrator to claim that they had not intended their actions to cause offence.
What Are An Employer’s Duties When Preventing Sexual Harassment?
An employer’s duty with regard to sexual harassment in their workplace extends beyond simply effectively addressing any complaints they receive; they must also take reasonable steps to proactively prevent it from occurring in the first place.
What will pass as reasonable depends on the individual employer’s circumstances. Accordingly, complying with your legal duties necessitates undertaking a bespoke risk assessment to identify any areas that may pose a sexual harassment risk within your business.
Examples of factors that have been shown to increase the risk of sexual harassment in the workplace include the following:
- Customer-facing roles
- Employees drinking alcohol, for example, when socialising
- Out of hours working
- Lone working
- Working at night
- Social media contact between employees
- Significant power imbalances
- A male-heavy workforce
Once you have identified the risk factors present in your organisation, you must consider the measures you might implement to mitigate them and decide which would be reasonable in the context of your business. When considering what would be reasonable, you should consider issues such as the size of your business and its resources. Large businesses with deep pockets would be expected to implement more extensive measures than smaller ones with limited resources.
Examples of the types of measures you might consider implementing include the following:
- Devising an anti-sexual harassment policy
- Providing consistent training to employees on what sexual harassment in the workplace is and the standards expected of them
- Ensuring everyone understands how to make a sexual harassment complaint and reassuring them that all complaints will be treated seriously
- Running awareness campaigns
- Nurturing a respectful workplace in which incidents of sexual harassment are deemed unacceptable
If you are unsure about the extent of your legal obligation to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, speak to us. We specialise in providing sensible, commercial advice to small business likes yours, and are committed to keeping our clients legal compliant in the most cost-efficient way.
What Should You Do If You Receive A Complaint Of Sexual Harassment In The Workplace?
You must treat each and every sexual harassment complaint seriously and with the appropriate levels of sensitivity.
A complaint may be made informally or formally. In some cases, an informal complaint followed by an informal approach may suffice to resolve the issue, particularly if the perpetrator had been unaware that their conduct was unacceptable and constituted sexual harassment. However, you must never pressurise a complainant to keep the matter informal. In fact, if the behaviour in question is serious, you should encourage them to pursue a formal complaint.
When you receive a formal complaint, you must follow the procedure detailed in your anti-sexual harassment policy if you have one. The process should involve speaking with everyone involved, gathering evidence, for example, from witnesses, and using what you have collated to reach a fair decision. If you conclude that sexual harassment in the workplace has occurred, you must take the appropriate disciplinary action against the perpetrator.
If you need expert guidance on addressing a sexual harassment complaint, we are on hand to assist. Our HR and employment law specialists will ensure you address the issue properly and efficiently and minimise the risk of an employee making a successful tribunal claim against you.
Call us now on 01491 598 600 or Click Here to Make An Enquiry and we will be delighted to help you.
