Starmer’s snowflakes’ charter

I almost choked on my cornflakes when I read that the Prime Minister had said he would slash red tape and ‘rip out the bureaucracy that blocks investment’ as part of a bid to persuade global business executives to invest in UK plc. Is this the same Keir Starmer whose government has just published an Employment Rights Bill that will tip a wastepaper basket full of red tape over employers’ heads? I know all governments pledge to ‘free up’ British businesses and then smother them in new regulations, but this wins first prize.

The focus of my ire is Clause 16 of the Bill, which will turbocharge the Equality Act by making employers liable for any ‘harassment’ of their employees by ‘third parties’, i.e. members of the public.

I know what you’re thinking. If that means bosses will be liable for third-party sexual harassment of their workers, what’s not to like? After all, we don’t want waitresses getting their bottoms pinched by predatory male customers. But employers are already on the hook for this, thanks to the Worker Protection Act passed by the last government. In its first iteration, that piece of legislation also sought to make employers liable for all forms of third-party harassment, but that was limited to just sexual harassment after a successful rebellion in the Lords. But now, Freddy Krueger-like, the clause has sprung back to life. To understand how burdensome it will be, it’s important to grasp how broad the definition of harassment is under the Equality Act. According to the Employment Tribunal, it includes conversations that might have the effect of violating the dignity of an employee who just happens to overhear them. In 2018, the tribunal awarded damages of £1,000 to a former assistant at the law firm Shoosmiths, who was offended when she overheard a colleague say ‘struggling immigrants should go back to their country’.