Small firms are being warned to prepare for new sexual harassment rights following a major High Court ruling.
Law firm Mace & Jones claims the recent ruling that the government failed to meet its obligations under EU law could spell trouble for employers.
Because of the ruling, employees subjected to sexual humiliation or harassment by members of the public in the course of their jobs are now allowed to claim against their employers.
Employers must now take steps to reduce the risk of harassment as far as possible and ensure that workers know how to react. Failure to do so will leave them vulnerable to claims in tribunals, the firm has said.
The ruling stems from a challenge from the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), which took the government to court, accusing it of failing to implement the EU’s 2002 equal treatment directive to increase protection for women workers.
It complained that regulations amending the Sex Discrimination Act, which took effect in October 2005, fell short of the directive’s intention - to ensure that women in the workplace were not subjected to “any unwanted conduct related to their sex which violates their dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment”.
As a result it was ruled that a woman is protected against harassment, and an employer liable for it, if they are aware of harassment and fail to act.
Mace & Jones head of employment law, Martin Edwards, said the decision could prompt a large number of tribunal claims over harassment unless employers act quickly.
“The EOC’s main target is the hotel and restaurant trade, but the ruling goes much further,’ he said. “Workers, mainly women but also men, would equally be protected in hospital or transport industry or working in professional service sectors like law and accountancy.”
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