The Pandemic of Workplace Sexual Harassment
Introduction
The International Labour Organization (ILO) represents 187 member states, whose governments, employers and other key stakeholders work together to set labour standards and develop policies to promote better working environments for all employees. In its March 2020 publication on Sexual Harassment in the World of Work, the ILO revealed that by virtue of the June 2019 Violence and Harassment Convention No. 190, “the global community has made it clear that violence and harassment in the world of work will not be tolerated and must end.” The publication also recognized sexual harassment as a “widespread phenomenon” that undermines equality at work and adversely affects employees’ health, wellness, and productivity, to name a few.
Given the ILO’s representation of over 90% of the recognized countries in the world and its narrative that sexual harassment is a “widespread phenomenon”, it could probably be fair to say that it is akin to the Covid-19 pandemic, which is an infectious disease that has a global impact on health. But is it really a pandemic? That is, how prevalent is it in workplaces across the world considering factors such paucity of data and non-reporting of incidents in some countries? For this reason, please consider this newsletter Part 1 in a series of related topics.
To get started on the journey to better understand the ‘spread’ of workplace sexual harassment, I will briefly examine any related data within two of the ILO’s member states and their legislative frameworks for its prevention and control. The countries under focus are Jamaica and the United Kingdom (UK), which have similar legal systems.
Jamaica
Although not specifically related to the workplace, a 2016 United Nations (UN) Women’s Health Survey showed a “high prevalence rate of 27.8%” of sexual violence among women, which represents more than one in every four women! This was the first national survey on gender-based violence so there is a paucity of data on workplace sexual harassment. Notwithstanding, there is likely sufficient anecdotal evidence of a sexual harassment epidemic, which has resulted in the Sexual Harassment (Protection and Prevention) Act (SHA) 2021 that came into operation on July 3, 2023.
SHA 2021 was created to protect against, and to prevent, sexual harassment and to facilitate redress for victims. Section 3(1) states that “an employer shall make every reasonable effort to ensure that the workers employed by the employer are not sexually harassed in the course of their employment.” Based on section 4 and the First Schedule, an employer’s effort, includes, but is not limited to developing and promulgating a policy statement about the prevention of sexual harassment with a zero-tolerance commitment and implementing internal mechanisms to handle claims. This legislation also shows a serious commitment to addressing sexual harassment claims based on the penalties outlined in section 39, where a breach could result in a fine of up to one million dollars or up to 12 months’ imprisonment. Also, in giving effect to section 13, the Governor-General, the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen, in his Throne Speech on February 15, 2024, stated that the Sexual Harassment Tribunal will become operational during the 2024/2025 financial year.
One important timeline in the SHA 2021, to which employers must give heed, is related to the implementation of their policies. According to section 4(4), “within twelve months from the date of commencement of this Act, every employer and person in charge of an institution shall ensure that the policy statement required under this section is prepared and shall take such steps as are reasonably required to bring the policy to the attention of each worker…” As such, based on the website of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports, on February 6, 2024, in the House of Representatives, Minister Olivia Grange urged all employers to implement their policies by the end of June 2024, which was four months ago. Have all employers complied or are there barriers in doing so?
Organisational leaders, business owners and HR practitioners, please help us at Human Resource Dynamics understand the level of compliance by completing this anonymous Workplace Sexual Harassment Policy Survey - click here to access.
United Kingdom
Unlike Jamaica, which is a developing state, one would expect that the UK, which is a developed state with numerous laws, systems and resources, would have sufficient data on workplace sexual harassment. Unfortunately, this is not so due to a culture of not reporting related incidents. A 2021 UN Women’s survey found that over 80% of sexual harassment victims did not report incidents and on the website of UN Women UK, there is an undated statement that over 95% of women are not reporting sexual harassment cases because they are of the belief that there will be no redress. While the survey and statement did not specify that these cases were workplace related, they show apathy to report.
Having studied Employment Law in the UK, I know that the Equality Act (EA) 2010 protects workers from any type of harassment, so I am really surprised at these alarmingly high rates of non-reporting. Could it be that organizations do not have the requisite policies to redress complaints or are they in place but not implemented? Whatever the status quo, this culture of non-reporting is likely to promote a false narrative of workplace sexual harassment being uncommon in the UK. However, these UN statistics debunk that narrative.
The culture of non-reporting was also evident in the results of a very recent survey (September 2024), which was conducted by UK’s workplace experts, ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service). From a total sample size of over 2000 persons, the results showed that 85% of employers and 91% of employees said that they have never witnessed workplace sexual harassment. How could this be true in light of the alarmingly high rate of non-reported cases? Are persons not aware of what constitutes sexual harassment, or have they turned a blind eye to it, or is there some other underlying factor?
According to Blumell and Mulupi in a 2024 journal article on Addressing Workplace Sexual Harassment Through Organizational Policy Messaging, a 2022 study in the UK shows “a trivializing of workplace sexual harassment despite existing legislation against it.” There is obviously some truth to this research and the culture of non-reporting since just few days ago, October 26, 2024, to be exact, the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act (WPA) 2023 came into force. This Act strengthens the existing protections under the EA 2010 by introducing a new duty for employers to take “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment from happening at work in the first place. This is a positive legal duty since employers must now have certain preventative mechanisms in place, some of which I will mention shortly. Could this have been one of the main contributing factors to the culture of non-reporting? That is, lack of adequate legislation to hold employers at a higher standard for the prevention of workplace sexual harassment. If so, it would not only be odd but sad for a state, which passes approximately 33 Acts of Parliament annually, according to the website for the UK Parliament’s House of Commons Library. Was this important matter simply overlooked for so many years?
Some of the preventative mechanisms that employers must have regardless of their sector, size or circumstance are as follows:
Being proactive by creating a culture where sexual harassment is understood to be unacceptable, and employees feel safe in reporting incidents.
Anticipating risks and taking preventative action.
Not confining prevention to the immediate workplace thereby seeking to prevent risks to sexual harassment in the course of employment, anywhere and at any time.
Developing and reviewing policies, which among other things, establish clear reporting channels for incidents.
Conducting regular employee training sessions to ensure ongoing understanding and compliance.
A breach of these duties could result in significant costs to employers since there is no cap on the compensation that the Employment Tribunal could award for successful claims. In addition, it can apply an uplift of up to 25% on the compensatory award. It should be enlightening to conduct a survey within another two to three years to determine if there has been a paradigm shift in the culture, where more cases of workplace sexual harassment are being reported and redressed because of the WPA 2023 coming into force.
Conclusion
Although I intend to unearth more information to determine the ‘spread’ of workplace sexual harassment, if UK’s culture of non-reporting is representative of what happens in other countries, then being able to draw an accurate conclusion may prove challenging. Until then, going back to the ILO’s March 2020 report, sexual harassment “results in large monetary costs for governments and employers, particularly in terms of medical care and counselling, lost productivity, case settlement and judicial monetary awards.” Furthermore, employers may have to deal with reputation costs from which they may never recover. It is therefore incumbent on them to avoid these resulting costs by establishing internal systems, which are frequently monitored for ongoing effectiveness. Every effort must be made to eradicate what is possibly a pandemic.
Question for respondents from all countries:
Do you think workplace sexual harassment is a pandemic? Click here to respond.
