Workplace harassment – a significant expansion of employer liability

The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces a wider scope, requiring employers to take “all” reasonable steps to prevent workplace harassment.

• From April 2026, sexual harassment will become an express qualifying disclosure for whistleblowing purposes.
• Non-disclosure agreements that restrict disclosures of harassment or discrimination will be unenforceable (subject to limited exceptions).
• From October 2026, employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment and harassment by third parties. Employers will be expected to do more than react to complaints, with the focus shifting to prevention, and the consequences of falling short could be significant.
• Employers will face standalone tribunal claims for failing to prevent third-party harassment.
• Employers who don’t take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment face a 25% uplift in compensation.

Third Party Harassment

Employers will be liable if a third party harasses their staff. Put simply, if a customer, client, contractor or supplier or any kind of visitor harasses a member of staff in the course of their employment, the employer can be held liable for that harassment – even though they don’t employ the person behaving badly. An employer will, however, have a defence if they can show they took all reasonable steps to prevent the incident.

As an employer, what should you do now?

• Update your anti-harassment policy and training for managers and staff — ensure they explicitly cover third-party harassment and set clear reporting routes.
• Do you know where your risk areas are? Risk assess higher-risk settings (front-of-house, lone working, events, remote teams) and for each, devise and document preventative measures.
• Conduct workplace culture checks within your business.
• Set clear expectations with suppliers and clients.
• Address the issue in your contractor relationships.
• Take allegations seriously and support affected employees. Make sure your whistleblowing and grievance procedures are clear.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s updated technical guidance to assist employers with their duty can be found here: Sexual harassment and harassment at work: technical guidance.

All reasonable steps – sexual harassment

If an employer does not take “all” reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, a Tribunal can increase a Claimant’s compensation by up to 25%.

As an employer, how can you prepare?

Regulations specifying what constitutes “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment are expected in 2027. In the meantime, the steps employers should be focusing on are:

• Assessing the risk of harassment in your business
• Having an anti-harassment policy that’s effective, well communicated and easy to find
• Training your workforce and managers with regular update sessions
• Monitor and consistently review policies and risk assessments.

Remember that you are not automatically liable for a third party’s actions – liability will arise if you didn’t do what was reasonable to protect your staff, and this will involve adopting a critical approach while looking at your workplace culture and working practices.

Contact our employment law solicitors today

Our team is here to help support your business through this period of unprecedented employment law transformation and to help you prepare as much as possible in advance of the changes.

If you have any questions or concerns about the updates provided above, please contact a member of our Employment Law team. You can use our online enquiry form or call 0330 191 5713.