Employment law

From 26 October 2024, employers in the UK come under a new positive duty to take reasonable steps to prevent workplace sexual harassment. This new duty applies to all employers regardless of size or sector. The UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published guidance which recommends, among other things, that:

• employers conduct a risk assessment to identify where harassment is most likely to occur in their workplace;
  
  
• employers have clear and detailed policies on sexual harassment with examples relevant to their workforce;
  
  
• employers provide regular training for staff covering how to raise concerns and, for managers, how to handle complaints; and
  
  
• in their preventative measures, employers address the risk of harassment of staff by third parties such as customers, clients and suppliers. 

Businesses that fail to take adequate steps could face increased compensation in sexual harassment claims and/or enforcement action by the EHRC.

Employers can expect significant reforms to UK employment law under plans outlined by the new UK Government. A new Employment Rights Bill and an Equality (Race and Disability) Bill will introduce changes in a number of areas. Some of the key changes include:

• Unfair dismissal: the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims will be removed. Currently employees need two years' service (in most cases) before they can bring unfair dismissal claims but the Government plans to make this a "day one" right. Employers would still be able to dismiss during probationary periods, but it is not yet clear how this will work in practice or how long probationary periods could be.
  
  
• Flexible working: all roles will be made flexible by default with employers required to accommodate this as far as is reasonable. Currently employees have a right to request flexible working, but employers can refuse such requests on prescribed business grounds. Employers are likely to see more flexible working requests and will have a higher burden to justify refusing such requests.
  
  
• Diversity reporting: employers with 250 or more employees would be required to report annually on the disability and ethnicity pay gaps within their workforce. Large employers would also be required to publish gender pay gap action plans on top of the existing gender pay gap reporting requirements.
  
  
• "Exploitative" practices: the Government will ban "exploitative" zero hours contracts that offer workers no guaranteed minimum hours and will give workers the right to a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work. The use of "fire and rehire" to change terms and conditions of employment will also be severely restricted.

For more about the Government's plans and what they mean for employers, please see our briefing Employment Law under Labour or our webinar Employment under Labour: preparing for change.