Warning over employment Bill’s impact on overheard conversations in pubs
Warning over employment Bill’s impact on overheard conversations in pubs
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The equalities regulator has warned of the “complexity” employers might face in deciding whether an overheard conversation in a workplace could amount to harassment. The Government’s Employment Rights Bill includes provisions to require employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment at work by third parties.
The law would cover any workplace, so could include pubs, offices and healthcare settings where a third party is present, such as a customer, client or patient. For this legislation to have the desired effect, it needs to be enforceable. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) warned of the complexity of the issue, which it said could be made more difficult if someone is expressing an opinion which amounts to a philosophical belief.
Philosophical beliefs could include views on religion or gender identity. In written evidence to MPs last month, and first reported by The Times, the EHRC said there could be “disproportionate restriction of the right to freedom of expression” and that more analysis is needed on the potential impacts of the Bill before it is passed into law.
The regulator said current analysis has not addressed “the complexity that would be faced by employers in determining whether conduct has a harassing effect, particularly in the case of overheard conversations”. It said the legal definition of what amounts to philosophical belief “is complex and not well understood by employers”, adding that it is “arguable that these difficulties may lead to disproportionate restriction of the right to freedom of expression”.
