Employment, contingent workforce and immigration | UK Regulatory Outlook October 2024

New statutory duty to prevent sexual harassment

The new statutory duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment came into force on 26 October 2024. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has now published its updated guidance reflecting observations raised during the consultation and setting out helpful and detailed considerations and actions for employers towards compliance. It has also published a short guide for employers on preventing sexual harassment at work. The guidance comments that employers are unlikely to be able to comply with the preventative duty unless they carry out a risk assessment, so this is something that will need consideration.

The Employment Rights Bill announced by the government (see below) provides that the new duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment will be amended to provide for an employer to have to take "all" reasonable steps. It also introduces liability for third-party harassment extending to all the protected characteristics currently covered by harassment (age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation) in the course of employment, unless an employer has taken all reasonable steps to prevent the third party from harassing them.

Regulations may also be introduced specifying what may be "reasonable steps" for these purposes including, among others, carrying out assessments of a specified description; publishing plans or policies of a specified description; steps relating to the reporting of sexual harassment; steps relating to the handling of complaints.

The bill also amends the existing statutory provisions on whistleblowing to explicitly include sexual harassment as a relevant failure in relation to disclosures qualifying for protection.

UK government announces new Employment Rights Bill: what does this mean for employers?

This month the government "unveiled" its Employment Rights Bill, as it looks to deliver "economic security and growth to businesses, workers and communities across the UK".

Many of the proposed reforms had been heavily trailed in Labour's Make Work Pay plan and in the media after the government's election, but there was increasing speculation as to what may or may not be included in this bill, the form the proposals will take and what measures will be immediate or subject to consultation and secondary regulations.

Indications are that some reforms are unlikely to have an impact in practice for some time, with the government expressly stating that the proposals around unfair dismissal and probationary periods will not come into force until autumn 2026.

The bill was presented before Parliament on 10 October and is stated to bring forward 28 individual employment reforms which cover a broad range of employment reforms. We explore these in our Insight.

Four government consultations have already been published on statutory sick pay reforms, collective redundancies and fire and re-hire, the application of zero-hours contracts measures to agency workers and creating a modern framework for industrial relations. 

Employment Rights Bill sets out major change for UK staffing companies and platforms and users of contingent workforces

The new Employment Rights Bill covers a broad range of general changes in employment law, as well as fire and rehire, flexible working, union law, sick pay and other benefits.

The proposals that relate to day-one rights, zero-hours workers and a new enforcement agency could have a huge impact on many current non-standard workforce arrangements and contingent working generally. While the bill aims to enhance workers' rights, it also poses challenges for employers, especially those using non-standard workforce arrangements, see our Insight for more on these challenges.

EU Platform Workers Directive formally adopted

The employment status of those working in the gig economy remains a significant risk area for platform operators (and users of platform workers). While many individuals enjoy the benefits self-employment can offer, recent years have seen increasing claims for employment status and the legal rights and entitlements that brings. This has attracted significant media attention. And the status of those workers for employment law purposes may have significant employment tax, social security and VAT cost consequences for the platforms via which they find work, so this topic is central to the ability of the platforms to operate competitively.

The Platform Workers Directive (PWD) seeks to provide rights for platform workers across EU Member States, including a presumption of employment status in certain circumstances and proposed new rights for platform workers.

The PWD has now been formally adopted by the European Parliament and Council. Member States have two years to implement the directive into national legislation (though many will do so more quickly, with some already having laws covering most of what it covers). It will be interesting to see whether non-EU countries such as the UK (perhaps under a new Labour government, which is considering introducing a statutory definition of self-employment) adopt similar measures. Read our Insight for more.