Employer’s defence to harassment – count to three

The Three Measures

The first two are easy and cost-effectiveThe third measure requires

commitment and further action

As an employer, you are liable for any harassment or discrimination carried

out by your employees

An employer can also be liable to its employees for harassment carried out

by an agent, such as a contractor or consultant

The first you might know about harassment may be when a member

of staff goes sick with stress

By this time, it may be t o o l a t e

to avoid liability

In April 2015, an employment tribunal ordered Britannia Hotels

Limited to pay £19,500 in respect of harassment of a waitress who worked on a zero-hours contract at one of its

hotels

Consider also the adverse effects of b a d P R and the huge c o s t s i n m a n a g e m e n t t i m e in

defending an action brought before a Tribunal or a Court

In addition, harassment might amount to discrimination

There is NO LIMIT to the amount of financial loss that can be awarded in a

case based on discrimination

Damages for personal injury can be claimed as part of discriminatory

compensation

You can put in place steps to establish your defence

The Statutory Defence

What is the Statutory Defence

The Employer must show that it took

all reasonable steps

to prevent the individual who carried out the harassment from doing that thing, or from doing

anything of that description

What is meant by “all reasonable steps”?

• This will be for the Court or Tribunal to determine

• But, you can help establish the defence by THREE MEASURES to help prevent you being liable for harassment and to help stop harassment occurring in the first place

Have an Anti-harassment and Anti-bullying Policy

Provide managers and, indeed, all staff with copies

WE CAN PROVIDE YOU WITH A POLICY FOR YOU TO BESPOKE at little cost

TRAIN you staff

• You can train ALL your staff by requiring them to work through a 20 minute on-line interactive training session

• This is NOT EXPENSIVE and can amount to a few pounds per employee

• This may prevent harassment occurring in the first place and will help to establish the ALL REASONABLE STEPS defence

• Our system can also keep a record of who has undertaken the training should you need this as evidence of your attempts to prevent harassment

IMPLEMENT THE POLICY

• You must show that you are implementing and enforcing the Policy

• Treat all complaints seriously

• Carry out effective and impartial investigations

• Treat incidents as disciplinary events

• Consider suspension until investigations are completed to preserve evidence

• Follow your disciplinary procedures through, if necessary, to dismissal

Investigate properly

In the case concerning Britannia Hotels Limited, the Tribunal found that the investigation was "perfunctory", and that manager was

“simply going through the motions because HR has told him to pursue the matter and that he had not the slightest interest in actually trying to get to grips with what may or may not have happened”

What can YOU do now?• Do not wait until an allegation of harassment has been made

• Act NOW!

• For little cost, we can supply you with a Policy and liaise with you in bespoking the Policy for your organisation

• We can enrol your managers and all your staff on our Anti-harassment and Anti-bullying Training

• The cost for a defence?

• Depending on numbers, it could amount to a few pounds per employee for a Policy and access to our online training course

Get you defence in first!

Who are we?

• We are Legal and Commercial Training Limited and are accredited by the Solicitors Regulation Society for the provision of Continuing Professional Development training for solicitors

• Our courses are designed by experienced legal trainers and course designers

• See our website here

• For further information, contact michaeltwomey@legalandcommercial.com