Employment Rights Bill: questions raised over third-party harassment provisions

Concerns raised over new employer duty

On 8 April 2025, the Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) wrote to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade raising several concerns about clause 20 of the Employment Rights Bill (ERB). The clause proposes a new duty on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent third-party harassment of employees.

The JCHR's questions focus on whether this duty appropriately balances the right to private and family life (Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights - ECHR) with freedom of expression (Article 10). In particular, the JCHR has queried:

• Why clause 20 includes no exemption for overheard opinions, unlike the earlier draft of clause 1 of the Worker Protection Bill.
• Why there is no requirement for an employer to have prior knowledge of previous incidents of harassment, which was a feature of the now-repealed section 40(3) of the Equality Act 2010.
• Why clause 21 permits regulations on reasonable steps for preventing sexual harassment but not for third-party harassment.
• How clause 20 will interact with existing duties under section 40A of the Equality Act 2010 and how enforcement by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will be managed.

Government position

The JCHR has requested a response to these questions by 29 April 2025, ahead of the House of Lords Committee stage of the Bill. The same day the JCHR's letter was published, the Department for Business and Trade released an ECHR memorandum asserting the Bill's compliance with the Convention. However, this document does not address the Committee's specific concerns.

The issues raised reflect the wider policy tensions around how far employers should be held accountable for third-party behaviour, especially in scenarios involving freedom of speech or unclear intent. With the reintroduction of third-party harassment duties following their removal in 2013, the outcome of this debate could significantly shape future obligations.

Best practice

Employers should continue to monitor developments closely, particularly any clarification on what steps will be considered 'reasonable' under the new duty. If clause 20 is passed in its current form, employers may need to review and strengthen their policies, training, and incident reporting procedures in relation to third-party behaviour.

For more information or advice, please contact Lucy Cinnamond in our Employment team on 07469 851 230, or complete the form below.