Third party harassment: preparing for the new protections

The Employment Rights Act 2025 will make employers potentially liable for third party harassment and, in doing so, significantly alters the risk landscape for customer-facing businesses. While many employers have focused on the new day-one rights and unfair dismissal reforms, the third party harassment provisions deserve equal attention. They create a direct route for workers to bring claims where they have been subjected to harassment by customers, clients, service users, contractors, suppliers or other third parties and their employer has failed to take reasonable steps to prevent it. 

What's changing?

The legislation amends the Equality Act 2010 to introduce an obligation on employers not to permit the harassment of their employees by third parties. This applies to both sexual harassment and harassment related to any of the protected characteristics.  Workers who experience such harassment by a third party will be able to bring claims against their employer where the employer failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent that harassment. 

The Government rejected calls to reintroduce the previous "three strikes" rule which required employers to have knowledge of previous incidents before liability could arise. The focus instead is on whether harassment occurred and whether the employer took all reasonable steps to prevent it. 

When is the law changing? 

The provisions are due to come into force on 30 October 2026. The lead-in period should not be wasted. Employers should now be thinking about how they will identify, manage and evidence the steps taken to prevent third party harassment.

For some employers, particularly those operating in hospitality, retail, healthcare, transport, leisure and education, this may require a substantial cultural shift. There has historically been a tendency to view difficult customer behaviour as an unavoidable feature of certain roles. The new provisions make clear that the focus is instead on what the employer did, or failed to do, to protect its workforce. 

What steps do employers need to take?

The key question is what steps are "reasonable" to take to prevent third party harassment. The Government has indicated that Employment Tribunals should recognise that employers have more limited control over third parties than they do over their own employees and that there is no expectation that employers will prevent all harassment from occurring or intervene directly in every incident. Employers will not be expected to take unworkable or impractical measures.   However, it remains to be seen how Employment Tribunals will apply this test. 

The Equality Act already has a “reasonable steps to prevent” defence available for discrimination and harassment claims where an employee or agent is the perpetrator  - but it rarely succeeds.   Even if the threshold for what is reasonable is lower when it comes to third parties,  the requirement to take “all” reasonable steps means that employers may struggle to escape liability unless they have very clear evidence of preventative measures. 

The starting point for employers will be identifying third parties with whom staff will interact, considering the scenarios where harassment may occur, and then assessing what steps could be taken to mitigate risks.   Staff will need to be given training about what to do if a customer or other third party behaves inappropriately, what steps they can take “ in the moment” to stop the unwanted conduct and what reporting mechanisms and support the employer has in place.   Employers should also review contract terms with suppliers and customers to ensure that, where appropriate, they can refuse permission for individuals who have harassed staff to enter their premises or access their systems.   Customer-facing businesses should display prominent notices indicating that harassment of staff will not be tolerated. 

There are particular concerns about how these provisions will play out in environments where employees may be exposed to controversial opinions expressed by customers, visitors, patients, students or service users.  In these cases, “reasonable steps” will be those which do not interfere disproportionately with freedom of expression.  

Sexual harassment

The changes are especially significant in the context of sexual harassment.

Since October 2024 employers have been obliged to take (proactive) reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, and where that duty is breached, any compensation awarded in a sexual harassment claim can be increased by up to 25%.  Once the third party harassment provisions are in force, workers will be able to bring claims directly in relation to third party sexual harassment. Where such a claim succeeds, tribunals will also be required to consider whether the employer breached the preventative duty and whether compensation should be uplifted as a result. 

Action points for employers

The starting point should be a risk assessment. Employers should identify where employees interact with customers, clients, patients, service users, contractors or other third parties and assess the nature and level of risk associated with those interactions.

Employers will need to review and update their policies.  Anti-harassment policies often focus primarily on conduct between colleagues. Employers should ensure policies expressly address third party harassment, explain reporting routes and set out the action that may be taken against customers and other third parties.

Training will be key. Managers need to understand not only the legal framework but also what practical interventions are available. In some cases the reasonable step will not be the immediate exclusion of a customer. It may instead involve warnings, revised working arrangements, escalation procedures, additional supervision or support for affected employees.

Incident recording will become increasingly important. If a claim arises, employers will need to demonstrate the steps taken both before and after an incident. Accurate records of complaints, investigations, action taken against third parties and training provided may prove decisive.

Finally, employers should not overlook governance. Boards and senior leadership teams should ensure harassment risks form part of broader workplace culture and people-risk discussions. A tribunal is likely to look more favourably on an employer that can demonstrate a considered and systematic approach.

Tribunals won't expect perfection. They will, however, expect evidence that employers took all reasonable, proportionate and thought-through steps to protect their people from harassment by third parties.  Employers should not delay in putting those measures in place.