What You Should and Should Not Do When Responding to Sexual Harassment Allegations in the UK

As an employer, you must do all you can to prevent people in your workplace from being sexually harassed and respond to any sexual harassment allegation. Sexual harassment claims are when your staff experience unwanted behaviour from another employee which is of a sexual nature, and it either violates a person’s dignity or creates an environment which is offensive, humiliating, degrading and hostile. Ultimately, it does not matter whether the perpetrator intended the behaviour to cause this harm; workplace sexual harassment is illegal. This article will explain what you, as an employer, should and should not do when responding to sexual harassment allegations in England. 

Respond Quickly and Take It Seriously

If you face an allegation of sexual harassment in your workplace, you must act as quickly as possible and take it very seriously. This will involve talking to the person who is the victim of sexual harassment. You should discern what happened and how the victim wants to deal with it. 

When speaking to the affected person, you should:

• keep an open mind;
• leave your views to the side;
• reaffirm the seriousness of the situation; and
• use sensitive language.

Follow a Full and Fair Procedure

When you receive an allegation of sexual harassment, you must follow a full and fair procedure. If not, this could be a factor against you if you face an employment tribunal for an employment claim. 

You should follow your workplace’s sexual harassment policy or procedure when responding to the allegation. If not, you may turn to your disciplinary and grievance procedure. Any procedure you use should align with the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures. Hence, it is wise to ask the person making the allegation to make a grievance for you to follow up. If they are too distressed, you may use your disciplinary procedure on the person who has allegedly sexually harassed them.

Offer Support

As an employer, you must offer support to the person in your workplace who has made an allegation of sexual harassment. Reporting sexual harassment and being a victim can cause extreme distress to someone, so they need to know that you support them. 

You should also directly support the accused, as a sexual harassment accusation is a grave issue. Therefore, you should ensure they realise you are not making presumptions and that you are conducting a fair investigation to establish the facts through the full and fair procedure you use.

Do Not Ignore the Allegation

When someone in the workplace alleges sexual harassment, you must never ignore it or attempt to conceal the matter. It does not matter if no one else witnessed it or you are unsure whether or not to believe them. 

In addition, if you have non-disclosure agreements (NDA) with your workers, you cannot use the NDA to claim that an allegation of sexual harassment cannot be reported as a crime.

Do Not Rule Out The Allegation as a Crime

If an allegation can be made out, it could be a crime. Therefore, when a person in the workplace reports an allegation of sexual harassment, you should not rule out the possibility that it is a crime. This means you should talk to the person making the allegation about whether they wish to inform the police. However, you cannot force the affected person to make an official complaint. 

Above all, you should seek additional advice about whether to escalate the complaint. If the affected person does not wish to notify the police, the perpetrator may pose a continued risk to your workplace. If you escalate the complaint, you should tell the victim before doing so. 

Key Takeaways

As an employer, receiving an allegation of sexual harassment in the workplace is serious. Hence, you must immediately respond to the complaint by following a full and fair procedure. Nevertheless, you should also avoid downplaying the seriousness of the situation. Additionally, you should not rule out the possibility that the allegation constitutes a criminal offence that requires police involvement. 

If you need help understanding what you should and should not do when responding to sexual harassment allegations in England, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. So call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

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