Government Plans Additional Measures To Combat Workplace Harassment

The Government's commitment to impose a new duty on employers to take "all reasonable steps" to prevent harassment in the workplace marks a new departure in discrimination law. In the public sector, the new duty is likely to overlap with the existing public sector equality duties set out in the 2010 Equality Act, but so far no positive, preventative duties have been imposed on private employers in this area.

The plans for a new duty, which were published in late July, emerged from a 2019 consultation, in turn a response to the pressure for change generated by the #metoo movement. We believe the new duty will apply not only to sexual harassment but to all other harassment prohibited by the Equality Act.