All Reasonable Steps And Third Party Liability: Stronger Duties For Employers To Prevent Sexual Harassment At Work
From 30 October 2026, the Employment Rights Act strengthens existing legislation introduced in 2024 for employers to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.
Since 2024, employers have been expected to take “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of workers, in the course of their employment. This has now increased to all reasonable steps”.
The Employment Rights Act also brings in new liabilities for employers regarding harassment carried out by third parties. This could be a client, a customer, contractors, suppliers, service users and any third party workers may come into contact with during the course of their employment. This not only includes preventing sexual harassment but also preventing harassment due to any other protected characteristic, such as race, age or sex.
Many employers may have chosen to only take a few of the eight steps recommended by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. But now all steps must be taken, with no exceptions. Proportionality is a key factor here – the nature of what constitutes a “reasonable step” will depend on an organisation’s size, resources and the risk of sexual harassment occurring. This is often dependent on the sector and the kind of work they carry out.
The starting point therefore needs to be a risk assessment with the focus being on preventing sexual harassment rather than just reacting to incidents. This should include undertaking a third party risk assessment by looking at which third parties your workers are most at risk from. Employers should also review their lone worker policy.
Employers should develop an effective anti-harassment policy, which should be shared with all staff. They should work to engage their staff and provide training so that they know their rights when it comes to harassment at work, and what the process is to report an incident. All staff should receive training around harassment at work, with senior staff expected to set the tone and deliver the anti-harassment message. All policies, training and risk assessments should be reviewed regularly to ensure that they are appropriate for the workplace.
Now more than ever it is important to ensure that steps are applied across the whole organisation rather than actions targeted at people involved in a previous incident. It is also vital that employers consider all types of harassment, including online as well as in-person.
A separate policy setting out how to deal with third party harassment, together with training workers in staff safety and de-escalation is important. Employers should also review any contracts or terms and conditions that they have with customers and suppliers so it is clear that your firm takes a zero tolerance approach to sexual harassment.
Employers need to be ready for these new duties and responsibilities and take all necessary steps to keep staff safe from harassment at work regardless of whether they employ people in a nightclub or an office and whether you are a large multinational organisation, or a small firm with a handful of employees.
Identifying the most proportional and appropriate way to apply all possible steps will be a key part of ensuring that any business complies with the new law after 30 October.
We are proud that as a campaigning firm we played our part in working towards these new laws. Our annual #MeToo Matters Campaign provides free training and advice to employers and employees on sexual harassment in the workplace. Fiona Martin has recently worked with The Access Group to provide bite size training videos on precisely what employers need to know about preventing sexual harassment.
Fiona says “Preventing sexual harassment in the workplace has become a legal duty for all employers to ensure that everyone knows they have a right to tackle, intervene, report sexual harassment in their workplace. Senior managers are expected to lead by example. Tough laws are being imposed to change working cultures for the better. If all of these preventative steps are not taken then employers will be found to be vicariously liable, even for third parties. Third party liability applies to all types of harassment due to a protected characteristic, not sexual harassment. This means your Equal Opportunities policy needs to be updated as there are positive steps that must be taken to prevent harassment”.
Our Employment law team can provide anti-harassment policies which can be tailormade for your organisation as well as delivering different types of training depending on the seniority of the delegates as well as your sector. This training will need to be repeated regularly as new recruits join as well as updating employees on changes to the law.
These stronger and broader duties will undoubtedly lead to employers focusing on preventing discrimination in the workplace. This can only be a positive step to create a fairer and more equal environment for everyone.
For expert advice or training on preventing sexual harassment at work, contact our Employment Law Team on 01273 609911, or email info@ms-solicitors.co.uk.
