Employment Law Guide 2026: Harassment

A number of further changes to harassment laws are being made by the ERA 2025. These are in addition to the changes referred to above (disclosures about sexual harassment becoming qualifying disclosures for whistleblowing purposes and contractual provisions purporting to prevent an employee from discussing or raising allegations of workplace harassment/ sexual harassment being made void).

Statutory duty to prevent sexual harassment

From October 2026, the current statutory duty for employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees in the course of their employment will be changed to a duty to take all reasonable steps, increasing the burden on employers. Secondary legislation may specify steps that are to be regarded as “reasonable” but any such legislation is not expected to be in force until 2027 (after the change comes into in force). As is currently the case, a failure to comply with the duty can lead to up to a 25% increase to compensation in discrimination and harassment claims.

Third party harassment

Employers will be made liable for harassment of their employees by third parties (such as customers and clients) where this harassment takes place in the course of their employment and the employer has not taken all reasonable steps to prevent it. This applies both to harassment related to protected characteristics (sex, race, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief, gender reassignment) and to sexual harassment.

Implications/Action points

• Continue to assess sexual harassment risks and update risk assessments, including risks of harassment by third parties
• Engage with your staff so you understand where any potential issues might lie
• Put in place an action plan to minimise identified harassment risks and monitor its effectiveness
• Review and update harassment policies, including to deal with third party harassment
• Revisit commercial terms and contracts with third party providers and clients to deal with harassment
• Refresh and update your harassment and sexual harassment preventative training and ensure all staff receive regular training
• Deal with harassment complaints promptly.