Under the Workers Protection Act 2023 employers have a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, rather than the previous requirement, which was to address sexual harassment after complaints were made. Nockolds said that recent widely reported sexual harassment cases and the power dynamics of workplace relationships could encourage staff experiencing sexual harassment to speak out. Rachel Davis, principal associate at Nockolds, said the new preventative duty had pushed sexual harassment to the top of the workplace risk agenda. Historically, sexual harassment policies were often generic and rarely enforced unless a complaint was made. Although the case was concerned with racial harassment, its significance for sexual harassment claims was that the same legal defence applies: if an employer can show they took all reasonable steps to prevent harassment of any kind – whether racial, sexual, or otherwise – they may avoid liability for an employee’s conduct.