Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of making an employer legally liable if they fail to protect their staff from sexual harassment at work.

Under the existing law employers are already liable for harassment carried out by their employees at work, unless they have taken ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent it. A duty on employers to prevent harassment would not therefore change the legal responsibility of employers to take steps to prevent sexual harassment in their workplaces.

However, following a recommendation by the Women and Equalities Select Committee for an explicit duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, the Government launched a consultation this month which will explore the evidence for introducing such a duty.