Question

To ask His Majesty's Government whether clause 20 of the Employment Rights Bill will mean the House of Commons and the House of Lords will be liable in their capacity as employers for the harassment of their employees by members of both Houses, and will therefore have to take all reasonable steps to prevent it.

Clause 20 in the Employment Rights Bill will amend the Equality Act 2010 to introduce an obligation on employers not to permit the harassment of their employees by third parties. Employers will be in breach of this obligation if they fail to take all reasonable steps to prevent the harassment of their staff, in the course of their employment, by third parties.

‘Employment’ as defined by the Equality Act 2010 includes relevant staff employed by the UK Parliament, including the administrations of both houses, and the obligation would also include those employed by individual MPs or by any political party.

A “third party” is a person other than the employer or a fellow employee. Therefore, as MPs and Peers are not considered employees for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, if they are not the employer of the member of staff, they would be a third party.

If they are the employer of the member of staff, they are prohibited from harassing their staff by existing provisions in the Equality Act.