Navigating Third-Party Harassment and Employer Responsibilities
Navigating Third-Party Harassment and Employer Responsibilities
Significant legislative updates introduce strict legal liabilities for third-party harassment and fundamentally shift how businesses must safeguard their workforce. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, which takes full effect on 30 October 2026, businesses face direct liability if any external entity, ranging from clients to contractors, harasses an employee in the course of their work. For managers and business leaders, this marks an immediate transition from reactive complaint handling to mandatory, proactive prevention.
The Two Major Legal Changes Coming into Force
The legal landscape is tightening via two specific statutory expansions that leave no room for corporate complacency:
From “Reasonable Steps” to “All Reasonable Steps”: Since October 2024, the law has mandated that employers take “reasonable steps” to prevent workplace sexual harassment. From 30 October 2026, this threshold escalates. Tribunals will now look at whether you took all possible, proportionate measures across your operations. Failing this standard risks up to a 25% compensation uplift in successful tribunal claims, alongside standalone enforcement actions by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
Third-Party Coverage Extends Beyond Sexual Harassment: While initial legal frameworks focused on sexual misconduct, the 2026 third-party harassment mandate applies to all relevant protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. This means your business is legally exposed if someone external targets your staff based on age, disability, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or gender reassignment.
A “third party” is legally defined as anyone your employees interact with while executing their duties who is not directly employed by your business.
Setting / Industry
Source of Harassment
Practical Workplace Example
Professional Services
Corporate Clients
A client making recurring, derogatory ageist remarks during project delivery meetings.
Logistics & B2B Supply
Subcontractors / Drivers
Third-party delivery drivers making sexually suggestive comments to warehouse staff.
Corporate Hospitality
Event Attendees
Guests at an annual business conference or dinner making racially insensitive slurs to hosting staff.
Healthcare / Care Facilities
Service Users / Patients
A patient or service user using abusive or discriminatory language toward clinical personnel.
Retail & Field Operations
General Public
Field technicians facing targeted, hostile harassment while servicing equipment in public view.
Practical Steps to Prevent Third-Party Harassment: Workplace Examples
To satisfy the strict “all reasonable steps” threshold, businesses cannot rely on general policy documents sitting on an intranet. You must embed active, tangible preventative measures directly into daily operations.
Implementing “Supplier & Client Codes of Conduct”
Do not leave acceptable behaviour open to interpretation. Work with legal and procurement teams to insert explicit zero-tolerance harassment clauses directly into vendor contracts, Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and client onboarding packs.
Workplace Example: A B2B software firm includes a mandatory clause in all client service agreements stating that discriminatory behaviour towards account managers will result in immediate suspension of services without a refund.
Visible Digital and Physical Signage
Signal your firm’s boundaries clearly to the public and visiting stakeholders. Use clear notices in high-traffic or public-facing working environments to deter hostile actions and empower staff.
Workplace Example: A corporate event venue installs digital signage at registration desks and printed notices in hospitality suites stating: “We operate a zero-tolerance policy towards harassment. Anyone engaging in abusive behaviour towards our staff will be permanently removed from the premises.”
Accompaniment and Physical Layout Redesigns
If a risk assessment reveals an external environment or role is vulnerable to unmonitored third-party contact, physically restructure how that work is performed.
Workplace Example: An engineering firm mandates that field technicians servicing machinery at public or third-party client sites must work in pairs (“buddy system”) rather than alone, or they ensure a manager is present during high-stress external handovers.
Accessible, Multi-Channel Reporting Pathways
Employees must be able to report external incidents without fear of commercial blowback. Provide varied, low-friction reporting methods, including anonymous portals and dedicated HR hotlines.
Workplace Example: A logistics company provides delivery drivers with a quick-reporting feature directly inside their handheld delivery apps, letting them flag a hostile or abusive customer environment instantly to central dispatch.
How Employers Must Respond: Managing the “Commercially Important” Dilemma
When an incident involves an essential client, a key account investor, or a major contract holder, managers often find themselves caught between financial preservation and legal exposure. However, the law provides no exemption for revenue-generating individuals; an employer cannot pass the burden of compliance onto its bottom line.
De-escalate and Reassign Immediately: If a report surfaces regarding a critical client, isolate the risk without penalising the employee. Move the employee off the account or project immediately while maintaining their seniority and pay structure to avoid victimisation claims.
Enact a Structured Escalation Path: Hand over communications with the problematic client to an independent senior director. The conversation, legally and professionally: “To fulfil our statutory obligations under the Employment Rights Act 2025, we require a restructure of our communication channels.”
Apply Proportional Sanctions: Treat client misconduct with the same gravity as internal disciplinary issues. Depending on the severity, actions can scale from formal written warnings to the client, demanding the assignment of alternative personnel on their end, or completely terminating the business relationship if safety cannot be guaranteed.
The Third-Party Harassment Preventive Checklist
Managers are the first line of defence against external workplace harassment. Use this checklist to ensure your team is protected and your business remains legally compliant.
1. Identify & Assess (Risk Mapping)
Identify all third-party touchpoints across your team (e.g., clients, contractors, suppliers, members of the public).
Highlight high-risk operational environments, such as solo off-site visits, late-night events, or environments where alcohol is served.
Review past feedback and incident logs specifically looking for recurring “minor” friction points involving external accounts.
2. Communicate & Signal (Setting Expectations)
Verify zero-tolerance clauses are clearly visible in service level agreements (SLAs), terms of business, and visitor signage.
Brief your team explicitly during meetings that your internal code of conduct applies equally to how they are treated by outsiders.
Promote clear, confidential reporting routes so staff know exactly how and to whom to report an external incident.
3. Respond & Protect (Immediate Incident Actions)
Prioritise worker safety immediately by removing the employee from the hostile situation or pausing the client interaction.
Document every detail comprehensively, capturing dates, specific words used, and any witnesses (even if the employee asks to keep it informal).
Adjust account structures or project assignments to separate the worker from the alleged harasser without downgrading the employee’s role, pay, or career progression.
4. Escalate & Remedy (Commercial Management)
Escalate high-value client issues directly to senior leadership or HR to keep client management separate from the factual investigation.
Issue a formal, professional notification to the third-party business, detailing the behaviour and requesting that they swap out their designated personnel.
Review the viability of the contract if the third party refuses to cooperate or if repeated incidents occur on the account.
To find out more information or to discuss third-party harassment in your workplace, please get in contact with our team of experts.
