|
HR & EMPLOYMENT LAW Jackie Le Poidevin, Editor-in-Chief, HR Adviser |
6 Actions to Control the Risk of Sexual Harassment During Work Christmas Parties
Do you have any social events planned for your workforce over the festive period? If you do, the introduction of the Worker Protection Act this October means you’ll need to take extra care to prevent sexual harassment when organising such an event, especially if alcohol is going to be available. Here, I summarise your legal obligations and the key actions you should be taking to protect staff and the business.
Understand the Law
Even if a Christmas party or other festive get-together isn’t taking place on your premises or in work time, case law has shown that the tribunals will consider it to be an extension of work. The business could therefore be liable for any sexual harassment that occurs.
The Worker Protection Act has upped the stakes by creating an active duty to anticipate situations when sexual harassment might take place and implement preventative measures. If you breach this duty, the tribunals can increase any compensation awarded by up to 25%.
Your New Duty to Assess Sexual Harassment Risks
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published guidance suggesting that to comply with the new legislation, you must carry out a sexual harassment risk assessment. Some of the main risks during Christmas parties will be:
- Drinking to excess, which can increase the likelihood of inappropriate behaviour.
- Employees mixing in an informal setting, leading to blurred boundaries around what behaviour is appropriate.
- Junior and senior staff mixing, which might create a power imbalance.
- The presence of clients or other people not under your control who might harass your staff.
- The presence of serving staff who might be harassed by attendees at your event.
- People going to after parties or sharing taxis home – which, depending on the situation, might still be seen as being connected to work.
Key Steps to Control These Risks
One way to control these risks is to hold an alcohol-free (or largely alcohol-free) event, perhaps during your normal working day. You should ask staff for their suggestions but some ideas might be a cookery or decoration-making workshop, going to an escape room or volunteering for a local charity.
If you do hold a Christmas party, here are some suggestions to manage the risks identified above:
- Avoid having a free bar and ensure interesting non-alcoholic options like mocktails are available. Provide plenty of water and food, have a sensible cut-off time for serving drinks and instruct servers to stop serving anyone who appears the worse for wear.
- Remind staff before the event that your usual conduct rules apply and that you expect them to drink sensibly and look out for each other.
- Make clear attendance is voluntary and managers shouldn’t pressure team members into coming.
- Ask staff to plan their journey home in advance.
- Have chaperones who aren’t drinking to oversee proceedings, defuse any situations that might cause a problem and monitor how people are getting home.
- Tell employees who the chaperones are and encourage them to come forward if they experience or witness inappropriate behaviour.
|
HEALTH & SAFETY Emma Lampka, Editorial Board Member, Health & Safety Adviser and Risk Assessment & Compliance |
£1.2 Million Fine After Fatal Lorry Accident: How Proper Training and Safety Measures Could have Prevented Tragedy
A £1.2 million fine was issued after a tragic lorry accident in a bakery’s loading bay, underscoring the deadly risks of inadequate safety measures. By conducting thorough risk assessments, providing proper training, minimising vehicle reversing and ensuring proper PPE use, employers can prevent similar fatalities, protect their employees and avoid costly fines and legal consequences.
The Case
Paul Clarke worked as an intake operator for Samworth Brothers Limited and was killed whilst moving strip curtains in the loading bay, which had been installed as a temporary measure due to a faulty roller shutter door. Mr Clarke was lone working and using a self-devised method of moving the curtains, as the company had not provided training or instructions for moving them. These makeshift arrangements included standing behind reversing vehicles.
HSE Inspector Aimie Baker advised that ‘workplace transport incidents involving pedestrians are a major cause of fatal injuries in the workplace with 25 such recorded fatalities in 2023/24’.
5 Steps to Prevent this Type of Incident Occurring in Your Workplace
- Change management: Employers must evaluate how any changes to working arrangements, no matter how temporary, will affect their employees. They should consider the changes to both the workplace and the work activities that will change as a result.
- Risk assessment: as part of evaluating change, a risk assessment must be conducted to identify any additional risks to the safety and health of all employees. It must consider what has changed, what the additional hazards are, who may be affected by these hazards, the likelihood and consequences of contact with the hazard and the arrangements to reduce the impact should employees be exposed to those hazards.
- Vehicle movements: ensure that the need for reversing is kept to a minimum. Where vehicles must reverse, there should be audible warning and, where possible, a trained and competent banksman to guide the vehicle backwards. Where possible, have a drive through one-way system to help reduce reversing. If vehicles do have to reverse, ensure there are clearly demarcated markings and signposted warnings for both drivers and pedestrians. Remove non-essential personnel from the area where vehicles are in operation and use, where possible, solid pedestrian and vehicle segregation.
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): high visibility clothing should be worn in any areas where vehicles are in operation to make pedestrians more visible to drivers. Ensure that the hi vis is clean and in good repair.
- Information, instruction and training: provide all your employees and visiting drivers with information, instruction and training to enable them to have the relevant knowledge of the site arrangements, the hazards and risks associated with vehicle movements and operation as well as what to do to prevent injury.
|
PAYROLL Sarah Bradford, Editor-in-Chief, Pay & Benefits Adviser |
Use the Statutory Payment Rates for 2025/26
As an employer, you are obliged to pay statutory payments to employees who pass the eligibility tests. The Government have recently announced the rates that will apply for the 2025/26 tax year which we outline below.
Statutory Sick Pay
Currently, statutory sick pay (SSP) is only payable to employees whose average weekly earnings over the relevant period are at least equal to the lower earnings limit for Class 1 National Insurance purposes. This is currently set at £123 per week but will increase to £125 per week for 2025/26.
SSP is only payable where a period of incapacity of work (PIW) has been created (which is a period of 4 consecutive days when the employee is sick and which can include non-working days, such as the weekend), and then only from the fourth working day that the employee is sick. The employee must serve 3 waiting days before SSP starts to be paid. These are working days on which they are sick.
The weekly rate of SSP is set at £116.75 per week for 2024/25. This is to rise to £118.75 per week for 2025/26. The amount that the employee is paid for each day that they are sick depends on the number of days they work each week (‘qualifying days’). The weekly rate is the same regardless of the number of days they work each week. The unrounded daily rates applying for 2025/26 are shown in the following table.
| Number of Qualifying Days | 2025/26 |
| 1 | £118.75 |
| 2 | £59.375 |
| 3 | £39.583 |
| 4 | £29.6875 |
| 5 | £23.75 |
| 6 | £19.7917 |
| 7 | £16.9643 |
| Weekly rate | £118.75 |
As an employer, you must meet the cost of any SSP that you pay to your workers.
The Employments Rights Bill contains provisions to make SSP payable from the first day of sickness. This will remove the need to establish a PIW or to serve waiting days. The Bill also contains provisions to extend the payment of SSP to workers whose average weekly earnings are below the lower earnings limit. Where workers earn less than the weekly rate of SSP, they will be paid a proportion of their earnings so that they do not receive more in SSP than they would earn if they were working. The Government recently consulted on what level this should be set at. The consultation closed on 4 December.
The changes contained in the Bill are not expected to be introduced until at least 2026.
Other Statutory Payments
Statutory maternity pay and statutory adoption pay are payable at 90% of earnings for the first 6 weeks of the pay period. For the remainder of the pay period, they are payable at the standard amount or, where lower, 90% of average weekly earnings. The standard amount is set at £184.03 per week for 2024/25 and will rise to £118.75 per week for 2025/26.
Other statutory payments – statutory paternity pay, shared parental pay and statutory parental bereavement leave – are paid at the standard amount or, where lower, 90% of average weekly earnings, for the pay period. The standard amount is set at £184.03 for 2024/25. It is to increase to £187.18 for 2025/26.
Employers are able to claim back 103% of the amount they pay if they paid £45,000 or less in Class 1 National Insurance contributions before taking account of the Employment Allowance in the previous tax year. This drops to 92% where the Class 1 National Insurance bill was more than £45,000. The amount can be reclaimed in the Employment Payment Summary (EPS) and will normally be set against the PAYE and the Class 1 National Insurance that the employer pays over to HMRC.