Gardner Leader

What employers should know about forthcoming amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act

The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (Amendment) Regulations 2008 come into force on 6 April 2008. The regulations have been made to make various amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 to ensure compliance with the European Equal Treatment Directive. Julie Taylor, solicitor in the Employment Team at Gardner Leader explains some of the changes that will take place.

Some of the key changes can be summarised as follows:-

1. Sexual Harassment

What was the old position?

The old law protects employees from harassment where they are subjected to unwanted conduct on the grounds of their sex which has the effect of violating their dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment to work in.

For example, to establish a claim a female employee would need to show that the reason for the unwanted conduct was her particular sex and that the unwanted conduct either had the effect of violating her dignity or creating a hostile environment.

What will change?

The new law removes the requirement for a connection between the unwanted conduct and the particular sex of the person being harassed. This means that an employee could bring a claim where the unwanted conduct has something to do with the gender of a man or women other than the gender of the particular employee.

Therefore, if a female employee works with a male colleague who makes persistent generalisations about women and sexist remarks, but the comments that are not directed at her specifically she could now potentially bring a claim as the remarks (although not specifically related to her sex) are related to the sex of some other person. The employee would still need to show that the remarks have the effect of violating her dignity or creating an offensive and degrading working environment to be successful.

2. Third Party Harassment

What is the new liability for employers?

It will be unlawful for employers to fail to take reasonably practicable steps to protect employees from harassment from third parties, such as suppliers or customers, where such harassment is known to have taken place on at least two other occasions.

This means that employers will need to ensure that they are aware of how their employees' are treated by third parties and take positive action to prevent harassment. Employers can even be held liable where the third party is a different person on each occasion the harassment takes place.

These amendments highlight the continuously changing nature of employment legislation and the importance of having properly drafted policies and procedures for handling complaints, of harassment and other employment issues. The Employment Team at Gardner Leader regularly advise employers on a variety of employment matters and have experience of drafting employment policies to provide a framework for dealing with complaints to minimise the risk of defending tribunal claims.

If you have any queries regarding the issues raised in this article, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01635 508181

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