Colleagues

In short the Government has announced that it will remove the third-party harassment provisions from the Equality Act 2010, which by virtue of s.40 introduced the concept of third-party harassment, whereby an employer will, in certain circumstances, be liable for the harassment of an employee where it is carried out by a third party, for example a customer or supplier.

Earlier this year, the Government launched a consultation on proposals to repeal these provisions on the basis that there is "no evidence to suggest that the third-party harassment provisions are serving a practical purpose or are an appropriate or proportionate manner of dealing with the type of conduct that they are intended to cover". The consultation closed on 7 August 2012 and the Government has confirmed that it will proceed with its proposals.

See additional summary at ExpertHR - http://bit.ly/Qhs6S.

This is not the view of a number of organisations such as CAGS – Croydon Area Gay Society; see their article and summary of the case of Blake v Pashun Care Homes Ltd [2011] EqLR 1293.

Additionally, today’s People Management has an article entitled Employer liability and ????, http://bit.ly/TlDHy7, in which Wanda Goldwag states, whilst writing about employer liability: -

“…But the burning issue remains: was the BBC at fault in giving ???? and other celebrities access to young girls? Did they fail to protect young people when they were on their premises and not take reasonable notice of allegations and comments that were made at the time?

Should this have been the case, the issue of employer liability arises. For example, what liability did the BBC have for the actions of its employees…

…If this sort of activity occurred today, the BBC would be in a very difficult position legally. The equality act means that an employer is now potentially liable for the behaviour of staff and for harassment of its employees by others (such as customers, clients, or visiting DJs)  if they have been made aware that it has happened and didn’t take reasonable steps to stop it happening again.

The act means employers are clearly responsible for preventing bullying and harassing behaviour and would need to have made it clear to everyone that such behaviour was not acceptable…”

These latter comments throw into relief the value of having legislation that provides for protection against third party harassment.

DennisB

Dennis Bartholomew | Equality and Diversity Officer | The Equality and Diversity Office
The University of Reading | Tel: +44 (0) 118 378 7306 | [log in to unmask]

http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/humanresources/equality | @DBatReading

From: HEEON equal opportunities list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of James Palfreman-Kay (Dr)
Sent: 12 October 2012 12:10
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Subject: Artricle of interest

http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hro/news/1074956/equality-legislation-u-bad-bosses-hook-tuc

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