Sexual harassment: what the law says

The Acts that may apply to you if you are subjected to sexual harassment at work are:

• The Sex Discrimination Act
• The Employment Rights Act

The codes of practice that may apply to you if you have been subjected to sexual harassment at work are:

The Equal Opportunities Commission’s Code of Practice on sexual harassment
The European Commission's Code of Practice on the Protection of the Dignity of Women and Men at Work

The Equal Opportunities Commission's Code of Practice on Sex Discrimination

The Equal Opportunities Commission’s Code of Practice on Sex Discrimination makes recommendations to employers, trade unions and other organisations on how to avoid incidents of sex discrimination and victimisation. The code also recommends basic proactive measures that organisations should take in order to help achieve equality between men and women at work. Both aspects of the code should be helpful in any employment tribunal claim you may make.

For more about making a claim, see Using your rights.

The European Commission's code of practice on the Protection of the Dignity of Women and Men at Work

The European Commission's code of practice on the Protection of the Dignity of Women and Men at Work recognises sexual harassment as being conduct that undermines the dignity of men and women at work. The Code defines sexual harassment to be:

unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, or other conduct based on sex affecting the dignity of women and men at work, which include physical, verbal and non verbal conduct
the conduct of superiors or colleagues is unacceptable if it is unwanted, unreasonable and offensive to the recipient
the recipient's rejection or submission to the conduct is used explicitly or implicitly as a basis for a decision affecting their job, promotion, training, salary, or any other employment decision
it creates an intimidating, hostile, or humiliating working environment for the recipient and that such conduct may be in breach of the Equal Treatment Directive.

The European Commission recommends that employers should:

• Treat sexual harassment as misconduct and deal with harassers accordingly.
• Adopt procedures/policies for dealing with sexual harassment.
• Issue a statement that sexual harassment will not be tolerated.
• Train all staff in the policies adopted.

The Sex Discrimination Act

The Sex Discrimination Act makes it unlawful for employers in Great Britain to subject someone to sexual harassment. It is also unlawful to harass a transsexual person because they intend to undergo, are undergoing, or have undergone gender reassignment.

Sexual harassment itself is prohibited by the Sex Discrimination Act but, in many instances, it will be accompanied by other forms of unfavourable treatment such as not being recruited, criticism of work, lack of promotion, enforced transfer and ill health or dismissal.

The Employment Rights Act

If you have one year's service with your employer, you may also have a claim for unfair dismissal/constructive dismissal, in addition to your claim of sex discrimination, if:

you are dismissed
you have to resign because you cannot bear to work in your job any longer as a result of the harassment
you are considering leaving your job because of the harassment or your employer has failed to investigate/take action about your complaints. Before resigning, it is best to take legal advice.

There is a three-month time limit for taking legal action under the Employment Rights Act. However, the issue of time limits is very complicated. If in doubt, get advice from a legal advisor, or contact us through our Helpline.

The three-month time limit will be extended by a further three months if:

you have been dismissed (not including constructive dismissal);
where the statutory dismissal procedure applies; and
you had reasonable grounds for believing, when the normal time limit expired, that a dismissal or disciplinary procedure, was being followed that covered these issues.