Sexual harassment

As well as prohibiting harassment related to gender, section 26(2) of the Equality Act 2010 outlaws sexual harassment — meaning unwanted “conduct of a sexual nature”. The EHRC Code confirms that this can cover verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct including unwelcome sexual advances, touching, forms of sexual assault, sexual jokes, displaying pornographic photos or drawings or sending emails with sexual content.

Section 26(3) also bans a third category of “sex-related” harassment, namely any less favourable treatment for “rejecting or submitting to unwanted conduct”. This could include, for example, being refused a promotion for refusing (or accepting) someone’s advances. To bring a claim under the Act, the harasser and the person engaged in the less favourable treatment need not be the same person.