Employers usually discover their obligations under the harassment legislation on the day a complaint arrives. By then the two things that decide the outcome — a constituted committee and a published policy — are already missing.
This is written for employers. If you are the person complaining, see making a workplace harassment complaint.
What the law requires of you
Under the Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act 2010, as amended, an organisation must:
Constitute an Inquiry Committee — of at least three members, including at least one woman, with one member from senior management and, where they exist, a representative of employees. Name the members, and make sure everyone knows who they are.
Adopt and display the Code of Conduct set out in the Schedule to the Act, in a place and language employees actually read.
Inform employees of the committee, the policy and how to complain.
Deal with complaints through the committee, within the statutory timelines.
The amended Act broadened its scope considerably — including in relation to categories of workers beyond conventional employment, and in the range of conduct covered. Do not assume a small organisation, an informal workplace, or one with few employees falls outside it.
Note also that the amendments extended protection in gender-neutral terms in important respects: treating this as a women-only process is a mistake employers make and are corrected on.
Running an inquiry properly
The most common outcome of a badly run inquiry is not that the wrong person is punished — it is that a finding is set aside on appeal and the employer is left worse off than before.
Act on receipt. The statute sets timelines. Delay is itself a failing, and looks like protection of the accused.
Do not "handle it informally" without the complainant's agreement. Quiet transfers and advice to "let it go" are how employers become defendants.
Protect the complainant from retaliation. During inquiry, consider interim measures — separation of duties, leave on full pay, restricting contact. Terminating, demoting, transferring or squeezing out a complainant is the single most damaging thing an employer can do, and it converts a defensible complaint into an indefensible one.
Give the accused the case and a fair chance to answer. Written allegations, the material relied on, an opportunity to respond and to be heard. Natural justice is not optional, and findings reached without it do not survive.
Keep the process confidential — for both parties.
Take evidence properly. Statements recorded and signed, documents, messages, access logs, CCTV where relevant. Preserve records at the outset; they disappear.
Reason your findings. A conclusion without reasons cannot be defended on appeal. Set out what was alleged, what was found, on what evidence, and why.
Apply the penalties provided, proportionately — the Act sets out minor and major penalties.
Record everything, including dates. A file that shows a prompt, fair, documented process is the whole of your defence.
Appeals, and the Ombudsperson
A party dissatisfied with the committee's decision may appeal to the Ombudsperson, and there is a further route from there. A complainant may also go to the Ombudsperson directly.
The Ombudsperson has real powers, and reviews the process as much as the conclusion. Employers lose there for procedural reasons far more often than for getting the facts wrong.
Serious conduct may additionally be a criminal offence, and the complainant is entitled to pursue that separately — an internal inquiry does not displace it. See reporting a sexual offence and, where the conduct is online, online blackmail and content takedown.
Getting the groundwork in place
If you have no complaint pending, this takes a week and removes most of your exposure:
- Constitute the committee and record the appointments in writing
- Adopt the Code of Conduct and display it
- Publish a policy explaining how to complain, to whom, and what happens
- Train the committee — most committees have never conducted an inquiry
- Brief managers that complaints must be escalated, not resolved privately
- Include harassment and grievance provisions in employment contracts and the handbook
- Review annually, and update the committee when members leave — a committee composed of people who left in 2023 is not a committee
Why buyers and investors now ask
Beyond legal exposure, this documentation is checked. International buyers' supplier codes and social audits look specifically for a constituted committee, a displayed policy and a grievance record — and a failure here can cost a contract. See sustainability and ESG requirements for exporters and textile export compliance.
Complaints made in bad faith
They happen, and the Act contemplates false complaints. But the response is a properly conducted inquiry that finds the allegation unproved — not a refusal to inquire, and never retaliation. Employers who decide the answer before the process do not get the benefit of it.
How the firm can help
We constitute committees and draft policies and codes that comply with the Act, train committee members, advise employers through live complaints, and conduct or assist independent inquiries where impartiality is in question.
We also represent employers and individuals before the Ombudsperson and in related proceedings.
See labour and employment, or contact the firm. If a complaint has just been received, the first week determines most of what follows.