How to deal with sexual harassment at work

What does the law say about sexual harassment?

Under the Equality Act 2010, sexual harassment is defined as any unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature.

The act protects the following people against sexual harassment at work:

• Employees and workers.
• Contractors and self-employed people hired to personally do the work.
• Job applicants.

Types of sexual harassment claims in the workplace

Staff members can experience sexual harassment anywhere, including office parties, training courses, and conferences. Co-workers are not the only perpetrators of sexual harassment, they could also include contractors, agency staff, clients, or customers.

Sexual harassment comes under a wide range of unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature. Some of these include:

• Indecent looks, staring or leering.
• Sexual suggestions and sexual advances.
• Sexual comments or jokes including sexual innuendos.
• Showing sexually explicit pictures, posters, or photos in the workplace.
• Posts of a sexual nature or communication on social media.
• Spreading rumours about a person of a sexual nature.
• Intrusive questions about a person’s private or sex life and discussing their own sex life.
• Unsolicited touching, hugging, massaging, or kissing.
• Sexual assault and other criminal behaviour such as stalking and indecent exposure.

As an employer, it is your duty to create a comfortable and safe space for employees when they come to work.

You do not want employees to create a humiliating or offensive work environment for co-workers. Sexual harassment can make the work atmosphere feel unsafe and toxic.

How can employers handle sexual harassment at work?

You have a duty of care for your staff to protect them from sex-related harassment. This makes you legally liable if any of them are sexually harassed in the workplace.

Although there aren’t any minimum requirements to show that you have taken reasonable steps.

Here are two that you should have in order:

• An anti-harassment policy: This must be communicated to staff clearly, efficiently applied, tried, and reviewed.
• A harassment procedure: This should include how staff members report harassment, what actions to take, how to protect victims and what action to take if sexual harassment happens. This would be included in the anti-harassment policy.

Everyone in your workplace has a responsibility to handle and prevent sexual harassment. This includes your line managers and HR professionals.

Create an anti-harassment policy

As an employer, you will need to implement an anti-harassment policy. This should cover sexual harassment and other harassment that could happen in the workplace.

Legally you must protect staff against discrimination related to:

• Race.
• Sex.
• Religion or belief.
• Sexual orientation.
• Gender reassignment.
• Age.
• Disability.
• Pregnancy and maternity.
• Marriage and civil partnership.

A policy can help create a safe environment in the workplace.

The anti-harassment policy should define what signifies a case of sexual harassment. It should also define what the process is for raising concerns.

You will need to include whom employees can speak to, what the formal process is and what may happen after concerns have been raised.

Respond to sexual harassment complaints straight away

Responding immediately shows staff that you will not tolerate any kind of inappropriate or offensive behaviour.

This should discourage any offences in the future. It will also create trust among your staff members as they’ll see action when they make a sexual harassment complaint.

Train and support your employees

Train senior staff and others who will be responsible for handling any cases and complaints.

Training will help staff feel confident in the procedure they conduct when investigating sexual harassment claims.

Get expert help on sexual harassment claims

Sexual harassment can happen to anyone at work, and it can seriously affect employees and the workplace environment. You and your staff must know how to handle harassment claims.

You don’t want to risk the safety of your staff. You also do not want any claims going to an employment tribunal because you haven’t followed a fair procedure.

Employment tribunals can be very expensive for employers. So, it’s important to get professional advice. That’s why we offer 24/7 HR and employment law advice at Employers Direct. We take care of everything from all the legal processes to advice on dismissals and grievances.

We provide free HR advice and will help you decide the best course of action. Contact us at 0800 144 4050 or click here. 

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