Repeal of 3rd Party Harassment Provisions
Last year, as part of the Government’s consultation on the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, it was proposed to simplify and strengthen the equality legislation by proposing measures which would relieve the burden on businesses whilst maintaining key legal protection from 3rd party harassment discrimination.
One of the proposed measures was to remove the 3rd party harassment provision in the Equality Act 2010 (s.40) which provides that an employer will be liable for harassment, in certain circumstances, where the employee is harassed by a third party, e.g. perhaps a customer or client.
Following the outcome of the consultation the Government concluded that the 3rd party harassment provision should be removed on the basis that employees are protected from 3rd party harassment through other forms of legislation. Whilst the repeal on s.40 in the Equality Act 2010 is effective from 1st October 2013, employers should be aware that they are still liable for claims of harassment under this provision if the incidents happened before 1st October 2013.
For further information or to have a chat about how Peopletime can help, please get in touch by calling 01280 875220 or email [email protected]. Alternatively you can find an overview of the services we have on offer to businesses or organisations on our website which can be found at www.peopletime.co.uk.