Does my employer have to prevent sexual harassment?

The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 changed the employer’s position from reactive to preventative. Section 40A requires reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of workers, and it applies to every employer regardless of size or sector.

What "reasonable steps" means in practice

The test is objective, and the EHRC technical guidance sets out what the regulator expects. A generic dignity-at-work policy is not enough on its own. Employers are expected to have:

• A written sexual harassment policy, given to every worker and easy to find, defining harassment with concrete examples
• Reporting routes that include at least one option bypassing the line manager
• A clear investigation process, and an explicit guarantee of protection from retaliation
• Training, and an assessment of where the risks actually arise in the business

The duty expressly extends to third-party harassment — by clients, customers, patients, suppliers or members of the public. Employers in hospitality, retail, healthcare and transport are therefore expected to think about lone working, customer behaviour policies, and how staff are supported after an incident involving someone outside the organisation.

What it means for you

The duty does not create a new individual claim. It works in two ways: the EHRC can investigate and take enforcement action, including unlawful-act notices, against employers who fail to comply; and where you win a harassment claim under section 26 of the Equality Act, the tribunal can uplift your compensation by up to 25% if the employer also breached the preventative duty.

So if you are being harassed: report it through the policy, keep a dated record of incidents and of the employer’s response, and note any gaps between what the policy promises and what actually happened — those gaps are what drive the uplift. Coverage is wide, taking in "workers" in the broader Equality Act sense, so contractors and agency staff working personally for the employer are usually protected. Contact Acas Early Conciliation promptly, since the ordinary tribunal deadline of three months less one day still applies.