Equality watchdog welcomes Worker Protection Bill receiving Royal Assent

30 Oct 2023 12:07 PM

We welcome the Worker Protection Bill (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) that received Royal Assent recently (26 October).  

Despite existing protections, evidence shows that workplace sexual harassment remains widespread, often goes unreported, and is inadequately addressed by employers. 

This bill is an important part of protecting employees in the workplace and places a proactive duty on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.  

To support employers, we will update our technical guidance on sexual harassment to reflect the new duty. This will set out the steps that employers should take to comply with the law.  

The guidance will be subject to a full consultation.  

Every employer, no matter how big or small, is responsible for protecting its workforce from unlawful harassment at places of work.  

We will continue to take action where we find evidence of wrongdoing and hold employers to account by using our unique powers.  

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