Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Watered-down harassment Bill to become law
ABILL led by a West MP that is aimed at protecting employees from sexual harassment in the workplace is on the verge of becoming law.
But the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill was described by one Tory MP as a “performative” attempt “simply to outlaw behaviour that we disapprove of”, even after its measures were scaled back by the House of Lords.
The Bill introduces a preventative duty on employers to stop workplace harassment, instead of relying on individual employees to report incidents.
But its protections were watered down in the Lords after Conservative peers raised concerns about free speech and employers becoming at risk of costly lawsuits.
As a result of a compromise, plans to make employers liable for harassment of their employees by third parties were struck out of the legislation.
Measures in the Bill insisting employers take every reasonable step to prevent sexual harassment were also watered down.
As the Commons debated the Bill for the final time, Conservative MP Danny Kruger (Devizes) said:
“I am happy that we have got to a place where the Bill has been effectively gutted by their lordships, and I am happy with the cross-party consensus on where we have got to.
“I think it is absolutely right that we removed the third-party liability, but I think there is something regrettable about the way this Bill has developed.”
He added: “I do think that we need to debate our equalities framework in this country, and fundamentally, we need to stop bringing forward what I call performative legislation, intended simply to outlaw behaviour that we disapprove of.
“Immoral conversations, bad manners, action likely to cause hurt and distress. We cannot legislate against all of these actions.”
Wera Hobhouse, the Lib Dem MP for Bath who sponsored the Bill through the Commons, said she was disappointed by the changes made in the House of Lords, but still wanted to see it become law to improve workplace protections against harassment.
She told MPs: “I cannot stand here and say I am completely happy with these amendments. However, if I was not accepting the amendments, the Bill would not progress into law and that would be a lot worse.”
Ms Hobhouse added: “The longer it takes for legislation to prevent sexual harassment to become law, the more workers – especially women – are left at risk of workplace sexual harassment, and that would simply not be acceptable.
“In the face of continuous scandals, we as lawmakers simply cannot stand by and do nothing.
“The Bill today once passed into law will be the beginning of a much-needed culture change.”
Minister for women Maria Caulfield said: “From engagement with stakeholders and peers, we heard a strong level of concern, particularly around the third-party harassment issues.
“And so we were eager to find a balance and a way forward for the Bill to reach the statute book with cross-party support.”
She added: “This Bill will make a difference to the safety of workers in the workplace.”