LRD guides and handbook February 2018

Tackling sexual harassment at work - a guide for union reps

Chapter 1

Third party harassment

[ch 1: pages 6-7]

The TUC found that 7% of women who had experienced harassment identified the perpetrator as a third party. Women working in retail and in medical and health services were more likely to report that the perpetrator was a third party, 11% and 9% respectively.

The Fawcett Society’s 2018 Sex Discrimination Law Review concludes that the legal system is failing women and needs fundamental reform. The report recommends strengthening the law on sexual harassment at work in order to protect women from harassment from “third parties” who can be customers, service users or contractors. (See page 23 for the law on third party harassment).