Sexual Harassment in Licensed Premises: Is Your Business Complying With the Law?
Sexual harassment can occur in any workplace, but pubs, bars, restaurants, hotels and nightclubs can face a distinctive combination of risks.
Employees may work late at night, deal with customers who have consumed alcohol and operate in busy or informal environments. Hospitality also employs many young, temporary and casual workers who may feel uncomfortable challenging inappropriate behaviour or reporting a senior colleague.
Licensed-premises operators must therefore do more than react after an incident. They should identify foreseeable risks and take practical steps to prevent sexual harassment from happening.
What is sexual harassment?
Sexual harassment is unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that has the purpose or effect of:
Violating someone’s dignity; or
Creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.
It does not have to involve physical contact. Sexual harassment can be verbal, physical, written or digital.
Examples within licensed premises could include:
Sexual comments or jokes;
Intrusive questions about someone’s private or sexual life;
Comments about a worker’s body or appearance;
Unwanted touching or deliberately brushing against someone;
Repeated requests for dates after the person has declined;
Sexual gestures or suggestive behaviour;
Sharing sexual images, videos or messages;
Inappropriate conduct through staff messaging groups or social media.
A person may claim that their behaviour was only a joke or that they did not intend to cause offence. However, intention is not the only consideration. The effect of the behaviour must also be considered.
A single serious incident may be sufficient to constitute sexual harassment.
Why are licensed premises particularly vulnerable?
Licensed premises can present several foreseeable risk factors.
Alcohol
Alcohol can affect judgement and behaviour. Employees may experience inappropriate comments, unwanted attention or physical contact from intoxicated customers.
Working in hospitality does not mean that employees must accept sexual comments or behaviour as part of their job.
Late-night working
Employees may work late at night, close the premises after customers have left or travel home during unsocial hours.
Staff may also work in relatively isolated locations, including cellars, kitchens, offices, stockrooms, smoking areas and external spaces.
Informal workplace cultures
Hospitality workplaces can be highly social. Employees may socialise together after work, communicate through informal messaging groups or attend events where alcohol is available.
However, inappropriate behaviour does not become acceptable because it happens during after-work drinks, a staff party or away from the premises.
Young, temporary and casual workers
Young or inexperienced workers may be less confident about challenging inappropriate behaviour. Temporary and casual employees may also worry that making a complaint could affect their future shifts or employment.
Positions of authority
A significant power imbalance can exist between an employee and a manager, supervisor, business owner, promoter or important customer.
Employers should ensure that every worker has a safe way to report concerns—even when the person involved is their usual manager.
The employer’s preventative duty
The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 came into force on 26 October 2024.
Employers are required to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees. This is a preventative duty.
Businesses should not wait for an incident or complaint before taking action. They should anticipate situations in which harassment could occur and introduce reasonable measures to reduce those risks.
The appropriate measures will depend on factors including:
The size and resources of the business;
The type of work employees perform;
The working environment;
Contact with customers and other third parties;
Whether previous incidents or concerns have been reported;
The frequency and seriousness of the identified risks.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission can take enforcement action where an employer breaches the preventative duty.
Where an employee succeeds with a sexual-harassment claim and the employer has breached its preventative duty, an employment tribunal can potentially increase compensation by up to 25%.
Harassment by customers and other third parties
The risks do not only arise from employees or managers.
Workers may experience sexual harassment from:
Customers;
Contractors;
Suppliers;
Delivery drivers;
Entertainers;
DJs and performers;
Promoters;
Security personnel;
Clients or guests.
Employers must consider the risks created by third parties when deciding what preventative steps are reasonable.
A complaint about a customer should not be dismissed because the person has been drinking or because the business does not want to lose an important customer.
Employees should know how to obtain immediate assistance. Managers should be prepared to challenge inappropriate behaviour and, where necessary, refuse service or remove the customer safely from the premises.
Staff safety and dignity must come before sales.
Why a policy alone is not enough
Having a written sexual-harassment policy is important, but a policy stored in a folder will not prevent inappropriate behaviour.
The policy should:
Explain what sexual harassment means;
Provide relevant workplace examples;
Set clear standards of behaviour;
Cover customers and other third parties;
Explain how concerns can be reported;
Provide an alternative reporting route;
Prohibit retaliation and victimisation;
Explain how complaints will be handled;
Identify possible disciplinary consequences;
Be reviewed and updated regularly.
The policy must also be communicated to employees. This includes permanent, part-time, casual, temporary and agency workers.
Staff and management training
Training should give employees the confidence to recognise inappropriate behaviour, report concerns and understand the support available.
Managers require additional training because they may be expected to:
Receive a complaint;
Protect someone’s immediate safety;
Preserve relevant evidence;
Maintain appropriate confidentiality;
Avoid prejudging an allegation;
Escalate the matter correctly;
Support the people involved;
Implement corrective action.
Training should be relevant to the actual risks within the premises. Attendance, completion and refresher training should be properly recorded.
Conduct a premises-specific risk assessment
A sexual-harassment risk assessment should reflect how the business actually operates.
Operators should consider:
Customer-facing roles;
Intoxicated or challenging customers;
Late-night and lone working;
Cellars, stockrooms and isolated areas;
Staff changing facilities;
External smoking or seating areas;
Staff transport arrangements;
Promotional events and external performers;
Staff parties and social events;
Workplace messaging groups;
Previous incidents, complaints or rumours;
The ability of staff to summon immediate assistance.
The risk assessment should result in practical action—not simply identify problems.
Provide safe reporting arrangements
Workers should have more than one route for reporting a concern.
Requiring every employee to report to the same manager is unlikely to be sufficient if that manager could be involved in the allegation.
Reporting arrangements should be:
Easy to understand;
Accessible to every worker;
As confidential as reasonably possible;
Supported by trained managers;
Free from retaliation or victimisation;
Capable of escalation when senior management is involved.
Employees should also know how to obtain immediate assistance during an incident.
Responding to a complaint
Every complaint should be taken seriously and handled promptly, fairly and sensitively.
Immediate priorities may include:
Protecting the worker’s safety and welfare;
Preventing unnecessary contact between the people involved;
Preserving CCTV, messages, rotas and witness information;
Obtaining appropriate HR or legal advice;
Conducting a fair and impartial investigation;
Taking proportionate action;
Reviewing whether further preventative measures are required.
Records containing sensitive personal information must be stored securely and shared only where there is a legitimate need.
Could sexual harassment affect a premises licence?
Sexual harassment is primarily an employment and equality-law issue. It does not automatically result in licensing action.
However, incidents involving violence, assault, vulnerable people, criminal behaviour, unsafe management practices or repeated failures to protect staff and customers could create wider concerns.
Depending on the circumstances, those concerns could involve:
The police;
The licensing authority;
Environmental health;
Safeguarding organisations;
The Equality and Human Rights Commission;
Employment tribunals.
Responsible management, effective training and proper incident records can help demonstrate that the premises takes staff welfare and compliance seriously.
Five actions operators should take now
Licensed-premises operators should:
Assess where sexual harassment could reasonably occur.
Update and communicate their sexual-harassment policy.
Train employees, supervisors and managers.
Establish safe and accessible reporting routes.
Record and regularly review every preventative action.
The central question is not simply whether the business has a policy.
The real question is this:
If an incident occurred tomorrow, could you prove that your business had taken reasonable steps to prevent it?
Download the free checklist
Click2Comply has created a free Sexual Harassment Prevention Checklist specifically for licensed premises.
The checklist contains:
18 scored compliance checks;
Yes, Partly and No response options;
A compliance score out of 36;
Policy and risk-assessment checks;
Staff and management training checks;
Customer and third-party controls;
Reporting and management-response checks;
A practical compliance action plan.
Download the free Sexual Harassment Prevention Checklist
Sexual Harassment Level 2 training
If the checklist identifies a staff or management training gap, Click2Comply provides Sexual Harassment Level 2 online training created for pubs, bars, restaurants, hotels, nightclubs and other licensed premises.
This article provides general compliance information. It is not a substitute for appropriately qualified HR or legal advice concerning a specific complaint, investigation or employment-law matter.
Comments