Sexual harassment & work Christmas parties

As another year draws to a close, many of us are looking forward to letting our hair down and celebrating another year’s hard work. For many, this will involve a Christmas event – and, often, that’ll involve alcohol.  

What HR teams need to know now 

There’s nothing wrong with employees having a drink and a good time. But these events blur the lines between the professional and the personal, creating a key risk for employers. Nowhere is this more true than with sexual harassment.  

Recent legal changes have now increased the risk that employers will end up in a costly employment tribunal if bad behaviour occurs. And if you haven’t made preparations to avoid this, time is now running out.  

In this blog, we explain what you need to know about the new law and what that means for the upcoming festive season.  

 

New sexual harassment law: What you need to know

 “The Worker Protection Act 2023 came into place on the 26th of October 2024, which states that employers have a duty to take preventative action against sexual harassment. That means conducting a proper risk assessment around sexual harassment towards your staff and your broader worker base.”  

- Martin Nicholson, Director, ProAction HR

Over the last few weeks, businesses have been busy responding to the huge news of the 2024 Autumn Budget and the Government's new Employment Rights Bill. 

But in between these changes, many organisations have missed an arguably more urgent update. On the 26th October 2024, the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2020) Act 2023 became law.

Here’s what the changes include: 

• Employers must now take 'reasonable steps' to prevent sexual harassment of employees
• This should extend to preventing harassment from third parties, including customers, clients and contractors

The new sexual harassment law does not mean that employers are legally responsible for every instance of sexual harassment in the workplace or at company events. But if the worst happens and you haven’t taken preventative measures, there’s a good chance you’ll be facing up to a further 25% uplift on any awards made at an employment tribunal. 

 

Who is responsible for bad behaviour at company events?

“A lot of people don't think the new rules apply to their organisation. Often, they’ll say ‘We don't have a problem with sexual harassment here’, and this is especially true when they have a culture of a bit of banter in the workplace. It can take real commitment from these organisations to change that culture and mindset.” 

- Colleen Bloomfield, HR Advisor and Partner Specialist, ProAction HR

The new law extends a legal principle known as ‘vicarious liability’, meaning employers are liable for discrimination, violence and sexual harassment in the workplace – if preventative measures haven’t been taken.  

Crucially, this includes events outside of the office, including Christmas parties.  

Here are a few examples of organisations that landed in an employment tribunal after sexual or physical misconduct at a festive event: 

• In 2019 a tribunal found that an employer was liable after a manager sexually harassed and assaulted a colleague after the company Christmas party. This was despite the fact that the assault took place after the party, at a different location
• In a similar example, a recruitment company was successfully sued by an employee after a Christmas party in 2011. In this case, the assaulter and the victim had travelled to a hotel and continued drinking, before an argument broke out and the victim was assaulted. The court noted that the argument involved a work discussion and that the company had paid for taxis to the hotel
• However, in another case, Cancer Research UK was found not to be liable for an employee being injured at a Christmas party. Though the incident occurred at the Christmas party, the company had carried out risk assessments and taken preventive measures like hiring extra security guards

So what can we learn from these three examples? Whether it’s violence or sexual harassment/assault, companies can absolutely be liable when things go wrong. This even extends to events that happen after the party has ended.  

But as we learned in the final example, there are measures you can take that can keep the company safe even if the worst should occur. 

How to prevent harassment and comply with legal changes

“If you haven’t taken preventative action leading up to the Christmas party, time is running out. If the worst happens and harassment occurs, you won’t have a leg to stand on. The law changed in October. My worry is that very few organisations understand the changes and have taken steps to remain compliant.” 

- Martin Nicholson, Director, ProAction HR 

Vicarious liability is nothing new: The examples in the last section all occurred before the new sexual harassment legislation came into effect. Now, employers have an even higher legal hurdle to clear. 

So what do you need to do to stay safe? Here are some important steps to help protect your employees and demonstrate compliance: 

1. Risk assessment - This is one of the most important actions that you can take. It’s important to proactively identify the risk of sexual harassment at such events and take steps to mitigate it. This can include limiting the amount of alcohol on offer, not paying for after-parties, providing guidance beforehand – or any of the other policies on this list.
2. Employee and manager training - All employees need to be aware of the new sexual harassment law and be clear that their behaviour will reflect on the company. Managers and HR teams should also receive training on what sexual harassment involves and how they should respond when issues are reported.
3. Educate clients, contractors and customers - Ensure all pre-party comms are extended to clients, contractors and customers wherever possible. You could also consider putting up signs around the party venue. 
4. Pre-party comms - It's also helpful to remind participants that sexual harassment isn’t acceptable and encourage anybody who experiences it to report it to managers or HR. If possible, this should include clients and contractors. 
5. Create sexual harassment policies - You should also create clear policies for how managers and HR teams should respond when sexual harassment is reported. This may involve escalating the issue to a particular person who is trained to handle these issues. 
   

How to reduce the risk of sexual harassment in the workplace - and a costly fine 

The steps we explained in the last section are by far the way to avoid the risk of sexual harassment and demonstrate your organisation’s compliance.

One of the important actions on that list is employee education. This is where Breathe’s online training module can help.

Our learning resources are specifically designed to help educate your staff on new laws like the Worker Protection Act. The online tool covers a whole range of topics like GDPR, IT security, discrimination and, crucially, sexual harassment prevention. These training courses are one of the easiest ways to educate managers and employees about the new sexual harassment legislation and what it means. 

And if an employment tribunal does occur, you’ll stand a much better chance of keeping the company safe if staff have completed training courses like these.  

Want to find out more?