New duty to prevent sexual harassment begins to bite

New duty to prevent sexual harassment begins to bite

It was reported this week that some workers at McDonald’s are suffering from sexual harassment, despite this being reported a year ago and a new law placing a duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment coming into force in October last year.

Many fast food chains, including McDonald’s, are run on a franchise model, meaning that although they are all branded “McDonald’s” they are run by a number of completely separate businesses. This can result in inconsistencies in how things like sexual harassment are dealt with.

We work with a number of franchise holders of various different types of businesses. We are therefore aware that there are some very well run businesses but, as is often the case, the bad apples damage all other franchise holders.

However, when the Chair of Equality and Human Rights Commission was interviewed on Radio 4 this week, she said they had received a further 200 complaints since October 2024. She also made the point that if fast food restaurants can ensure their products are the same throughout the country and around the world, then they should be able to ensure sexual harassment and problems at work at dealt with in the same way properly.

It is a reminder that not only is dealing with sexual harassment sensible to avoid legal claims or bad publicity, it is now a legal requirement, with the Equality and Human Rights Commission being tasked to actively seek it out.  Given the potential costs of getting claims under the new regime, not to mention reputational damage, this is worth focussing a little attention on.

If you need help with how to comply with the new duty, training or updating policies, you can get in touch here.