Lidl has signed a legal agreement to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, after an employment tribunal found it had failed to take all reasonable steps to do so.
The discounter has signed an agreement with the Equality & Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to take steps including surveying staff on sexual harassment and monitoring the effectiveness of its complaint handling.
It comes after an employment tribunal found Lidl GB had failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent the sexual harassment of a young female employee by a staff member from 2019 to 2021.
The tribunal found that managers at the store she worked in were not aware of the company’s anti-harassment policy. It also found no risk assessments had been conducted and Lidl had relied on its employees to submit complaints before taking action.
Under the Equality Act 2010, employers are legally responsible if an employee is sexually harassed at work by another employee and the employer has not taken all the steps they could to prevent it from happening.
The Worker Protection Act has since added a proactive duty on employers, meaning they can be liable for failing to take reasonable steps even if there are no incidents of sexual harassment.
According to the EHRC, Lidl GB took steps to improve protections for staff following the tribunal judgment, such as delivering additional training to the managers concerned and introducing further bullying and harassment training for broader roll out across the business. The supermarket has also completed a sexual harassment risk assessment in consultation with the EHRC.
“Every employer has a legal duty to prevent sexual harassment and they must be able to prove they’ve taken reasonable steps to do so,” said EHRC chair Kishwer Falkner.
“We welcome the improvements Lidl GB has already made since an employment tribunal ruled against them, and their willingness to take the further steps we have recommended. By signing this legal agreement, Lidl GB has committed to carrying out this work based on our expert advice.
“Sexual harassment is never acceptable in the workplace. All employers should take note of what the law requires of them under the preventative duty. We will continue to use our unique powers as Britain’s equality regulator to ensure everyone can work without fear of sexual harassment.”
Under the legal agreement with the EHRC, Lidl GB has committed to:
- Run a staff survey relating to sexual harassment within the workplace and assess if additional preventative steps are necessary
- Develop a system to monitor and analyse informal complaints of sexual harassment to identify ongoing risks and whether additional preventative steps are required
- Monitor the effectiveness of complaint handling for new formal complaints of sexual harassment
- Review a sample of sexual harassment complaints from 2023 and 2024 to assess any trends and risks
- Arrange meetings with its existing DE&I groups to discuss risks of sexual harassment, and any additional preventative steps that could be taken
- Continue to monitor and review its sexual harassment risk assessment
- Further review internal harassment policies and training content, including its relationships at work guidance
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