On 26 October 2024, the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 (WPA) came into force, introducing a new duty for all employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Should the employer fail to do so, and an employee subsequently succeed with their claim in an employment tribunal, then the tribunal has the power to increase compensation awarded to the claimant by up to 25%.
Law firms should therefore consider the following when dealing with allegations of this nature in the workplace.
Legal liability for sexual harassment
Sexual harassment, under section 26(2) of the Equality Act 2010, is defined as “unwanted conduct of a sexual nature which has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them”.
A law firm, like any business, can be jointly and severally responsible for an act of sexual harassment, as they are vicariously liable for the acts of their employees during their employment.
However, a firm can successfully defend such a claim if they are able to show they took all reasonable steps to prevent the harassment from occurring.
The new provisions of the WPA
As detailed above, there are potentially serious financial consequences for law firms if they fail to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment from occurring in the workplace.
Firms should therefore implement training and policy guidance in the workplace to make it clear that sexual harassment is not only not tolerated, but seen as (gross) misconduct.
It is also important that firms have clear grievance procedures to allow employees to understand how they can complain if they are sexually harassed at work — and to act promptly, thoroughly and fairly when a complaint is raised with them.
The SRA Code of Conduct
The SRA Code of Conduct sets out the standards of professionalism expected by the SRA of individuals regulated by them. It is likely that an act of sexual harassment that occurred in a law firm, where perpetrated by an individual regulated by the SRA, would amount to a breach of the principles set out by the SRA (in particular, paragraph 1.5 of the code). This could then result in regulatory action being taken against the perpetrator.
SRA guidance on dealing with allegations of sexual harassment
The SRA’s guidance on sexual misconduct in law firms allows firms to understand when such misconduct may have occurred, when it is relevant to an individual’s professional life, how firms can promote a workplace culture that does not tolerate it, and when misconduct should be reported to the SRA.
Law firms should take care to read the SRA’s guidance on sexual misconduct and implement its recommendations.
The introduction of the WPA, and the SRA’s increasing focus on sexual misconduct in the legal workplace, can only be seen as a good thing. Lawyers (mainly female lawyers) will hopefully feel safer given the increasingly severe financial and regulatory consequences for sexual misconduct in the workplace — and, ideally, law firms will be more pleasant places to work in.
