Duty to prevent sexual harassment of employees

Implementation date: 26 October 2024

The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, provides for a positive duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees in the course of their employment.

The Act received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023 (under the previous Conservative Government) and is due to come into force one year after that date, on 26 October 2024. 

Following amendments to the original Bill, the Act does not introduce employer liability for third-party harassment of employees.

Separately to the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, the Labour Government is making further changes to the law on harassment. The Employment Rights Bill includes provisions to:

• add the word "all" to the positive duty, so employers will have a duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees in the course of their employment;
• introduce regulations specifying what steps are to be regarded as reasonable, in relation to the duty to prevent sexual harassment; and
• introduce employer liability for third-party harassment of employees (not limited to sexual harassment), where the employer has failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent this.

It is not known when the measures under the Employment Rights Bill will come into force. The measures included in the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 will still come into force on 26 October 2024.