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IKEA UK signs legal agreement to protect staff from sexual harassment
We have signed a new legal agreement with IKEA UK, to improve its policies and practices in relation to sexual harassment.
Our intervention follows a complaint about sexual harassment and assault from a former IKEA employee and relates to how the allegations were handled by IKEA UK.
Under the agreement, IKEA UK has committed to:
- communicate a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment to all staff
- work with a specialist external law partner to support the organisation in reviewing its policies and processes relating to sexual harassment, and to improve its responses to complaints
- provide training on the enhanced policies and processes, harassment and sexual harassment to Human Resources staff and all line managers.
Under the Equality Act 2010, employers are legally responsible if an employee is sexually harassed at work by another employee, and the employer has not taken all steps they could to prevent it from happening.
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Do you work in hospitality? We need your help to prevent sexual harassment
More than half of women and two-thirds of LGBT people report experiencing workplace sexual harassment. But the problem is particularly acute in hospitality. The vast majority of bar and waiting staff say they have either experienced or witnessed inappropriate sexual behaviour. This can range from being asked whether they are ‘on the menu’ to full sexual assault.
Last year, we launched a practical resource to stop the harassment of hospitality staff being seen as ‘just part of the job’.
If you work in the hospitality sector, we want to hear from you about your experience, so we can continue improve the toolkit and develop more resources that will help prevent sexual harassment in the sector.
| | Complete the survey for the hospitality sector | | | View our resources on preventing sexual harassment | |
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Our response to Baroness Casey's review of the Metropolitan Police
We welcomed the publication of Baroness Casey’s review of culture and standards at the Metropolitan Police earlier this month. It is a hugely significant report, both for those working in the force, and the public they serve.
As an employer and a public body, the Met must fulfil its statutory duty to protect its employees and the public.
We will be carefully considering the contents of this report in detail, and we may consider taking further steps, including regulatory action.
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Our statement following the Children's Commissioner's analysis of police strip searches
We welcomed this month's report from the Children’s Commissioner for England which shares a never-before-published analysis of strip searches of children conducted by police under their stop and search powers across England and Wales.
As Britain’s equality regulator, we are particularly concerned by the finding that Black children are up to six times more likely to be strip searched compared to the national population.
We are also concerned about the systemic problems raised in the report relating to safeguarding, particularly the lack of scrutiny of the searches conducted by the police.
We will consider the findings of the report carefully and we will not hesitate to use the full range of our regulatory powers if necessary.
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Blog: why do we intervene in legal matters?
As enforcers of the Equality Act 2010, and as a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI), we have a range of legal powers to tackle issues that advance our strategic priorities. This includes the power to intervene in court proceedings in human rights and equality cases brought by others.
Interventions are an important tool, and allow us to use our expertise in important court cases to provide clarity and establish important legal protections for people, often the most vulnerable in society.
Our role as a strategic regulator means that we focus our resources on cases that have a potentially wider impact in promoting human rights and building a fairer society
We recently intervened in the case of Maguire v HM Senior Coroner for Blackpool & Fylde to ensure that the rights of vulnerable people in care homes were upheld.
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Our joint NHRI statement to hold the Government to account for its Human Rights
On 27 March, we published a joint statement with the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) on the UK’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Recommendations.
In our statement, which was delivered to the UN through video by the NIHRC Chief Commissioner, we urge the UK government and devolved administrations to publish clear, actionable plans for implementing your respective recommendations. Enhanced engagement with NHRIs and civil society during the planning and implementation stage can support this.
Our three Commissions stand ready to support the implementation of recommendations and to hold the UK and devolved governments to account.
We will report back to the Council with our independent and expert assessments of any progress made.
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A global meeting of National Human Rights Institutions
As the A-status National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) for England and Wales, we hold membership with the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI).
This month we attended the GANHRI General Assembly to connect with the global NHRI community and to celebrate 30 years of the Paris Principles and 75 years of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR).
Protecting and promoting equality and human rights standards is central to our work. To do this effectively, we follow the Paris Principles which provide the benchmark for high-performing, independent National Human Rights Institutions.
We will continue to work with the global NHRI community to ensure the protection of human rights for all and to maintain the principles that have been followed in the 75 years of the UDHR.
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Illegal Migration Bill - Committee Stage
In preparation for the Committee Stage on the Illegal Migration Bill, we published a briefing to advise on the equality and human rights implications of the proposed law.
It is vital that effective, rights-compliant action is taken to ensure that more lives are not lost on dangerous Channel crossings. We welcome the Government’s commitment to increase safe, regular routes to Britain for those in need of asylum. We note that no detailed plans have yet been made public, and we recommend that proposals are brought forward alongside the legislation.
Some of the Bill’s provisions risk placing the UK in breach of its legal obligations and individuals at increased risk of harm.
We are also concerned by the speed at which the legislation is progressing. Given the equality and human rights implications of the Bill, sufficient time should be allocated for thorough parliamentary scrutiny.
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Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill - Lords Second Reading
In preparation for the Second Reading debate on the Worker Protection (Amendment of the Equality Act 2010) Bill, 2023, we shared a briefing with all MPs and Peers.
This Bill provides a welcome opportunity to strengthen existing protections against workplace harassment.
We support proposals in the Bill to introduce a proactive duty on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. The Equality Act 2010 is clear that sexual harassment and less favourable treatment resulting from it is unlawful.
The Bill will also reinstate protections for workers from harassment from third parties, such as clients, customers and patients.
Strengthening the law on third-party harassment will provide employers with the clarity they need to ensure that their workers are protected against harassment by customers, clients and patients.
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Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill - Committee Stage
Ahead of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill starting Committee Stage in the House of Lords, we have published a briefing on the Bill.
We believe the Bill raises several human rights considerations, specifically in relation to certain articles of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) that require careful scrutiny.
We recommend careful consideration of these issues to mitigate against disproportionate or unjustified interference with Article 4, 11 and 14 ECHR rights.
We further recommend that more detail on specific policy choices – in the human rights memorandum or elsewhere – is needed in order to facilitate effective parliamentary scrutiny of the Bill.
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Ombudsperson system needs greater human rights focus
Last year, we provided evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights’(JCHR) inquiry into whether a Human Rights Ombudsperson should be created. This month, they published their final report which concluded that the existing Ombudsperson system needs a greater human rights focus, but a dedicated Human Rights Ombudsperson is not needed.
Their inquiry found that creating a dedicated Human Rights Ombudsperson could risk creating overlap with the functions of existing bodies, including the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO). It also found that creating a new role risks creating confusion.
Ombudsperson services play an important role in providing a mechanism for people to uphold their rights out of court. We published a human rights guide for ombudsman schemes in 2019.
We welcome the JCHR's report and will continue to support the work of ombudsperson services.
| | Read our written evidence to the JCHR | | | Read the JCHR's report | |
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Adult mental health services standards in Scotland
We welcome the introduction of standards for adult secondary mental health services in Scotland. Our response to the draft quality standards, which we submitted earlier this month, focuses on the public bodies who deliver these services and their existing duties under equality legislation.
The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) provides the framework for identifying and preventing discrimination and advancing equality in Scotland and applies to public bodies as both service providers and employers. This legal obligation must be understood and reflected in the standards.
We have responded to the standards where there are clear equality considerations that should be taken into account and make recommendations in relation to:
| | Read our response to the draft quality standards | |
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