The Employment Appeal Tribunal has provided helpful guidance for employers on what amounts to taking ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent harassment at work. Here’s what you need to know.
Background
During an argument, a union Branch Secretary (and NHS Trust employee) made a comment capable of amounting to racial abuse to a union member. The member brought a racial harassment claim against the NHS Trust.
The EAT held that the Trust was not liable for the actions of the Branch Secretary as they had taken ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent harassment.
Practical takeaways
Demonstrating you’ve taken ‘all reasonable steps’ can be a powerful defence to avoiding liability in harassment claims, but only if your organisation can show it’s done the work. This case highlights the importance of the following steps:
Mandatory training – ensuring all employees complete regular EDI training with a clear audit trail. Broadening the scope to cover ‘banter’ and sexual harassment will provide even greater protection. We recommend each topic is repeated annually. Click here to book a demo of our anti-harassment suite.
Inclusive induction – ensuring all staff are taken through a dignity at work induction focussing on the core values. You can take this a step further by ensuring your values and ED&I policies are regularly communicated.
Driving performance – use your performance processes to assess whether employees’ values align with your own.
Visible posters – throughout the workplace reinforce values and expectations through workplace communications and media platforms.
Get in touch if you’d like to chat with us about this case or if you’d like to learn more about how our anti-harassment suite of eLearning can help, book a demo today.
This update is accurate on the date it was published but may be subject to change which may or may not be notified to you. This update is not to be taken as advice and you should seek advice if anything contained within affects you or your business.
