The government returns after the summer recess to make big changes to UK employment law. As the new Labour government beds in, fresh regulation around employment and further protection for workers are first on the slate.
The right to disconnect
The ‘right to disconnect’ refers to the right not to engage in work-related activities outside of contracted hours. The government plans to make this a right for UK employees, following some EU states which have already enshrined the right to disconnect in their own domestic legislation.
With no current right to disconnect in the UK, Labour’s proposed changes represent a significant shift in our employment law. The government’s plan suggests creating a Code of Practice (similar to the ACAS disciplinary and grievance procedures codes) with an assumption that the code will place a responsibility on an employer to agree with its workforce when they can be contacted outside their contractual hours.
If an employer fails to follow the agreement there could be an ‘uplift’ in a remedial award given by employment tribunals. While it seems unlikely a code will allow for new claims relating solely to breaches of a right to disconnect, these claims could lend weight to claims like constructive dismissal, increasing the penalty payable by an employer who is found to be in breach.
Duty to prevent sexual harassment at work
From October 2024 the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act will come into force. This new law places a duty on employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment of its employees.
Tribunals will have the power to increase compensation by up to 25% if they find an employer has breached this duty. The initial proposal was for employers to have to take ‘all reasonable steps’ but this has been watered down to make the duty less onerous. This is some comfort for employers although trade unions have been highly critical of the dilution.
Employers need to understand what their duty is and what sexual harassment is. In law, harassment includes unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic (in this case sex) which has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.
The duty is to prevent sexual harassment by ‘any’ perpetrator and that includes third parties such as customers, clients and members of the public, which seems very broad for an employer to have to take responsibility for. So, what can an employer do to prepare?
Employers should be proactive and systematic in how they prevent and tackle sexual harassment at work and will need to show evidence of the reasonable steps taken.
To do so, they need to focus their attention on several priority areas:
- Policies and procedures. Employers must have written policies and guidance to define sexual harassment, give examples of what it is and outline everyone’s responsibilities for preventing and tackling it. These can be used to promote the organisation’s commitment and to educate the workforce about sexual harassment. Most employers will wish to update their employee handbook accordingly. The upshot should be cultural change, though this will take time.
- Training for all staff. There should be regular training for all staff, regardless of seniority, so that they understand what sexual harassment is and what their role is in preventing it.
- Reports and disciplinary powers. There should be clear reporting channels for complaints, with a set of steps which must be taken to address allegations of sexual harassment, including investigations, disciplinary and grievance processes.
Given the commencement of this new legislation is imminent, employers must take action urgently to get their policies, training and systems in place if they have not already.
