Employers must protect employees from sexual harassment under new law | Labor law

Under the government’s sweeping new employment law, employers must protect their employees from sexual harassment – including from customers and clients.

The new commitment is part of a series of measures unveiled in Thursday’s landmark employment rights bill, which Labor had promised to bring to Parliament within 100 days.

The bill, expected to take up to two years to fully implement following lengthy consultations, will give millions of workers new rights, including the right to sue their employer for unfair dismissal without waiting two years after employment.

However, the new bill also includes a number of new workplace protections, including increased maternity and pregnancy discrimination and a requirement for employers to create menopause action plans.

Among the measures that have been fleshed out for the first time is a new protection against harassment by third parties, which employers must take “appropriate measures” to prevent, such as protecting bartenders from harassment by bar patrons.

This means employers must anticipate where such harassment may occur and put action plans in place to protect their workforce. This is likely to include reporting channels and new complaints procedures, as well as risk assessments. This could include more direct communication with customers and clients about workplace expectations.

The bill, which the government said would represent the biggest improvement in workers’ rights in generations, grants new rights from day one of employment, including the right to paternity leave and unpaid parental leave.

It makes flexible working the standard, bans most zero-hours contracts, although employees can request one, and abolishes “fire-and-hire” practices – although critics said there were significant loopholes for employers to do so could claim exceptional circumstances to downgrade the terms and conditions.

It will also set up a new enforcement agency, the Fair Work Agency, as a one-stop shop for whistleblowers, carrying out inspections and issuing fines. In addition, many of the Conservative government’s anti-union laws will be abolished.

The government expects consultations on the changes will not begin until 2025 and the majority will not come into force until 2026 at the earliest. The reforms on unfair dismissals will take even longer: autumn 2026 at the earliest.

Unions have largely welcomed the changes, which the TUC described as a “seismic shift”. But the small business association said the measures would cost jobs and described the introduction of the bill as “chaotic”. But the Confederation of British Industry said the government deserved recognition “for its willingness to work with businesses and unions to make the plan to make work pay a success”.

In interviews marking the publication of the bill, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Business Minister Jonathan Reynolds said they had worked hard to take business concerns into account. Rayner wanted to reassure small businesses that the government was “striking the right balance” with its employment law changes.

“These packages are business and worker friendly and we have been working with companies – large, small and medium – across the country and many of them have welcomed the measures we have proposed,” Rayner told the BBC. “We recognized some of the challenges involved. This is a huge package of reforms, so we will make sure they are part of the process.”

Reynolds said the government intended to introduce legal guidance on when companies could deny their employees permission to work flexibly. “This flexibility brings real business and worker benefits as more people stay employed longer and more people are in the job market. So those are good things,” he said.

“But of course we’re not going to dictate, it doesn’t work for everyone, but the process will be improved by this legislation.”