Plans for a new law to protect interns from sexual harassment at work were announced by Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner in a keynote speech at the CMI Women conference yesterday (9 May, 2024).
If Labour wins the next general election, the legislation would be brought in under the party’s New Deal for Working People.
Rayner told delegates at the Chartered Management Institute event: “I want to set out our plans to empower women so they can thrive from the very first day in their career path.
“Labour will introduce a new law to protect women starting out in the workplace from sexual harassment at the very place where they should be free to thrive, an interns law.”
The proposals would require employers to take steps to protect their newest and youngest workers from sexual harassment, as well as ensuring that existing requirements apply to contracted interns and volunteers who have signed work agreements. She said these requirements were “exactly in line with Labour’s 2010 Equality Act”.
Rayner added: “What that means in practice is that employers will have to bring in measures to stop sexual harassment before it starts.”
Ann Francke, chief executive of CMI called the plans “ultimately good for business”.
She said: “Good employers recognise that they need to move swiftly and decisively – with clear policies in place when it comes to tackling these behaviours – both for the sake of their teams and also to protect their reputation.”
More effective enforcement required
Ben Willmott, head of public policy at the CIPD, said: “Strengthening the law to require employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment could play a positive role in helping to stop this sort of behaviour and address toxic workplace cultures where they exist.
“However, there is already a duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment and any revision to the law would only have impact on workplace practices and behaviours if there was much more effective enforcement of employment regulation. This would need to include more support on compliance for employers, particularly SMEs, to ensure they understand the law and how to improve their people management practices to meet its requirements.”
‘A charter for bad bosses’
Labour recently revised its New Deal for Working People, which was shared with trade union earlier this week, prompting Unite the union to say it was “totally unrecognisable from the original proposals”.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “It looks like all the warnings Unite made earlier about the dangers of Labour rowing back on its pledges for the New Deal for Workers have been proved right.”
She said the new version of the deal was “a row back on a row back” making it unrecognisable from the original proposals produced with the unions.
“This new document is turning what was a real new deal for workers into a charter for bad bosses.
“Labour don’t want a law against fire and rehire and they are effectively ripping up the promise of legislation on a new deal for workers in its first 100 days. Instead, we have codes of conduct and pledges of consultation with big business. Likewise, the proposal to legislate against zero hours contracts is watered down to almost nothing.”
She urged other unions to join her in demanding that Labour changes course and puts the original New Deal for Workers back on the table.
