Your legal obligation to stop sexual harassment in the workplace

Your legal obligation to stop sexual harassment in the workplace is coming into force, are you ready? A new legal duty is being imposed on UK employers to take "reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment of employees in the course of their employment. The new duty is expected to come into force in October 2024 and originates from the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, which aims to enhance protections against sexual harassment for employees. B P Collins’ employment team explores the steps employers need to take now to help prevent issues in the future.
Created: 7 April 2025
Last Reviewed: 7 April 2025
Contents
What is sexual harassment?
What changes are coming?
What should employers do now?
What does the legal duty not cover?
What next?

What is sexual harassment?

Sexual harassment is a form of discrimination that involves unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.

The unwanted conduct could be verbal or physical, so inappropriate comments, gestures, or jokes of a sexual nature; unwanted touching or advances; displaying sexually explicit materials; and requests for sexual favours are all potentially sexual harassment.

Treating someone unfavourably because they submit to or reject unwanted conduct of a sexual nature will also be harassment.

What changes are coming?

Be proactive: Employers will be required to proactively

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