"Me Too" - Sexual Harassment at Work

In light of the “Me Too” campaign that has been on-going now for a couple of years, Actress Emma Watson has launched a free legal advice phone line for women who have experienced sexual harassment at work. The line offers legal advice to women in the workplace and helps them to make ‘informed’ choices about the next steps to take if they wish to make an accusation.

Former Harry Potter star Emma Watson is helping to fund the line which is now live and its services are provided by volunteer female employment lawyers and Right of Women legal staff. The aim of this service is to increase understanding of discrimination law for female employees and help them to hold harassers to account. The phone line will run on Mondays from 18:00 to 20:00, and Tuesdays 17:00 to 19:00.

Emma Watson explains that ‘understanding what your rights are, how you can assert them and the choices you have if you’ve experienced harassment is such a vital part of creating safe workplaces for everyone’. She was staggered that such a line didn’t already exist. It will also offer advice on other related legal problems faced by women experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace.

It has recently been found that as many as one in two women have experienced sexual harassment at work and this development sends a clear message to organisations that this issue remains a key area that they must be prepared to combat.

“What do we, as a business need to do then”? I hear you ask. There are some very simple steps you can take to protect yourself from potential claims in the workplace. Ensure that you have a clear policy confirming which forms of behaviour will not be tolerated in the workplace, alongside the consequences for employees if they are found to have committed such actions. You must also ensure that you thoroughly investigate all accusations of sexual harassment when they are brought to your attention and respond to them in a consistent and fair manner.

For help on getting a policy and guidelines in place and if required, investigating these issues, get in touch using the “Get in Touch” button on the website.