New Third-Party Harassment Laws: What Employers Need To Do Now

From 30 October 2026, employers face increased responsibility for protecting employees from harassment by customers, clients, contractors and other third parties.

Changes introduced by the Employment Rights Act 2025 have now taken effect, significantly changing the position for employers where their staff experience harassment from people outside their organisation.

From 30 October 2026, an employer can be liable where a third party harasses an employee in the course of their employment and the employer cannot show that it took all reasonable steps to prevent the harassment.

For businesses whose employees regularly interact with customers, clients, service users, suppliers, contractors or members of the public, this is an important change.

What has changed?

Previously, the circumstances in which employers could be liable for harassment committed by third parties were more limited.

The new rules provide employees with a specific route to bring an Employment Tribunal claim against their employer where they have been harassed by a third party and their employer failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent it. Importantly, there is no requirement for the employer to have already known about any previous incidents involving that person before liability can arise.

The protection also extends beyond sexual harassment. It can apply to harassment related to age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Third-party harassment could therefore arise in a wide range of situations, including inappropriate conduct by customers, discriminatory comments from clients, harassment by contractors or unacceptable behaviour from patients or service users.

Examples could therefore include:

• a customer making racist comments towards a member of retail staff;
• a client making derogatory remarks about an employee's disability;
• a patient making sexually inappropriate comments towards a healthcare worker;
  inappropriate conduct from a contractor working alongside an organisation's employees; or
• harassment taking place online or during other work-related interactions.

The workplace is not the only setting employers need to consider. Harassment may occur at client premises, external meetings, conferences, training events or through online interactions where there is a sufficient connection with work.

Why should employers be concerned?

The focus is not simply on the conduct of the third party. Employers will also need to consider whether they did enough to protect their employees from that conduct.

To defend a claim, an employer will need to demonstrate that it took all reasonable steps to prevent the harassment. This places a clear emphasis on prevention rather than simply responding once something has happened.

The risks will inevitably vary between organisations. Businesses operating in customer-facing environments may have more obvious exposure, but third-party harassment can arise in almost any organisation where employees interact with people outside the business.

Employers should therefore consider whether their existing policies, training and procedures adequately address the risks posed by third parties.

What should employers do now?

Employers should review their current arrangements and consider whether further measures are needed.

This should include considering the third-party risks employees face, ensuring harassment policies and reporting procedures adequately cover those risks, and making sure managers and employees understand how concerns should be handled.

Crucially, having a policy in place may not, by itself, be enough. Employers should be able to demonstrate the practical steps they have taken to identify and reduce the risk of harassment.

We would therefore recommend that a full and detailed risk assessment takes place identifying areas of potential exposure, and thereafter consider practical steps to be implemented.

Is your business prepared?

The new provisions are in force from 30 October 2026, meaning employers should now be considering whether their existing arrangements are sufficient.

For some organisations, this may involve relatively minor changes to existing policies and training. For others, particularly those with significant customer, client or service-user contact, a more detailed review of their risks and preventative measures will be needed.

Our Employment Team can help employers understand how the changes affect their business and review the measures they currently have in place. We can also assist with updating workplace policies, assessing third-party harassment risks and delivering appropriate training.

If you are unsure whether your organisation is prepared for the new third-party harassment rules, contact JCP Solicitors' Employment Team to discuss the steps your business should be taking.