"It was just banter" - four little words that
send shivers down the spine of HR managers tasked with dealing with
incident(s) of harassment.
In this article, we discuss the importance of rigorous
anti-harassment policies, training and practice in the workplace,
using the recent Allay (UK) Ltd v Gehlen case
as an example.
For the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, anything done by an
employee in the course of employment is treated as having also been
done by the employer (section 109(1)), regardless of whether the
employee's acts were done with the employer's knowledge or
approval (section 109(3)). However, under section 109(4) there is a
statutory defence available to an employer if it can show that it
took all reasonable steps to prevent the employee
from doing the discriminatory act or from doing anything of that
description.
