From 30 October 2026, employers will be liable if their staff are harassed by customers, clients, patients, suppliers or members of the public, unless they took ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent it. This covers harassment related to age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation, and one incident is enough. The existing duty to prevent sexual harassment is strengthened from ‘reasonable steps’ to ‘all reasonable steps’.
Would you be covered?
Ask yourself what you would have done in each of these situations, and whether you could prove that you had taken ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent the harassment.
- The hotel guest. A guest makes homophobic remarks to a receptionist over several days of his stay. The duty manager knows, but is reluctant to upset a regular customer.
- The dental patient. A patient refuses to be treated by a dental nurse because of the nurse’s religion and makes offensive comments about the nurse’s headscarf.
- The social media post. A disgruntled customer posts comments on the business’s Facebook page mocking a named employee’s disability.
- The delivery driver. A driver is repeatedly subjected to sexual comments by staff at a regular customer’s warehouse, but assumes there is nothing his own employer can do.
In each case, the employee could bring a claim against their own employer. Compensation for discrimination is uncapped, and, where sexual harassment is involved and the preventative duty has been breached, a tribunal can increase it by up to 25%.
Three quick strategies to reduce the risk to you as an employer.
- Say it publicly. Put a short statement on your premises, website and social media, and in your terms of business, that abuse of staff will not be tolerated, and what will happen if it occurs.
- Give managers permission to act and staff permission not to tolerate it. Make clear that managers can (and should) challenge, warn or refuse service to customers who harass staff, however valuable the customer. Let staff know that they will not be disciplined for removing themselves from situations where they are being harassed or abused.
- Write it down. Record your risk assessment, policy updates, training and the action taken on each complaint. If you cannot show the steps you took, a tribunal may assume you did not take them.
What is reasonable depends on the size and resources of the business, and the government’s regulations on ‘reasonable steps’ are not expected until 2027. In the meantime, the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s technical guidance is the best guide.
If you have any questions, please contact one of our HR Advisors by emailing hr@perspectivehr.co.uk or by phoning 01392 247436.