Sexual Harassment at Work

In October 2005, what constitutes sexual harassment in the workplace was enshrined in law for the first time. The intention was to end confusion over what behaviour is acceptable in the office – and what isn’t.

The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 was revamped to comply with the EC’s updated Equal Treatment Directive, essentially becoming the Employment Equality (Sex Discrimination) Regulations 2005.

Under the new law, sexual harassment can no longer be excused as a joke or a ‘bit of fun’ if it can be regarded as unwanted conduct of a sexual nature – be it verbal, non-verbal or physical - that violates a worker’s dignity, or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, or offensive environment for a worker.

Such conduct – by both male and female employees - includes not just lewd or sexist remarks and behaviour, such as a pat on the bottom or an arm round the waist (even if they are well-meaning). It also extends as far as screensavers of scantily clad figures, risqué greetings cards, the viewing of indecent images on the web, and sending suggestive text messages and emails.

Even high shelves can be an issue. Bosses have been warned that placing items out of reach of all but the tallest women could constitute harassment on the grounds of sex, as could a rota system that requires women with childcare responsibilities to work out of regular office hours. Discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy can also be regarded as harassment.

Damages for sexual harassment can be large – sometimes costing hundreds of thousands of pounds. This is why some organisations have greeted the new regulations with disdain.

“Businesses face legalised blackmail”, claims the Forum of Private Business, which represents more than 25,000 small and medium-sized firms. It believes that private businesses are a “prime target for the compensation culture”.

However, without recorded evidence or witness corroboration, it is extremely difficult to prove sexual harassment because the situation simply becomes one person’s word against another. In these circumstances, the consistency of a worker’s allegations is key to his or her case.

For instance, when Football Association secretary Faria Alam accused her boss, David Davies, of sexual harassment, she was forced to explain why, only hours after resigning from her position, she described Davies as a “lovely person” and denied that he had harassed her.

But the new discrimination laws have in some ways made it easier for a worker to make a successful claim of sexual harassment. For instance, a person must no longer prove that he or she was treated less favourably than a colleague of equal standing.

By law, employers must make it their business to be aware of goings-on in the office, and they are held responsible for an employee’s behaviour in the workplace. It’s partly for this reason that most sexual harassment suits are brought not against alleged perpetrators but against employers. The other reason is, of course, that businesses are better placed financially to pay out considerable damages.

The firm accused can defend itself if it can prove it took reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace by, for example, prohibiting the downloading of sexual images and having in place a well-defined policy against harassment.

For further reading see the UK Net Guide features on your rights as an employee, unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal and maternity rights.