Preventing Workplace Sexual Harassment: Key Lessons from Lidl’s EHRC Legal Agreement

Miss Hunter, a young female, was employed by Lidl as a Customer Assistant between February 2019 and July 2021.

Soon after joining the company, a male colleague moved to the till next to hers, asked her for her number and made repeated sexual advances towards her. Miss Hunter asked to change to another till, but she was told that this was not possible and that she should take the advances as a compliment.

As her employment continued, she was subjected to inappropriate and unwelcome behaviour from the deputy store manager, including sexualised comments and physical touching.

While Miss Hunter did not raise a formal grievance regarding harassment, she did complain to her line manager and also requested to be placed on different shifts to the deputy store manager.

Miss Hunter’s complaints were largely ignored, and she claimed that he store manager laughed and said he was not surprised by his colleague’s alleged behaviour.

Miss Hunter asked to be transferred to a store with a female manager, but she was told that that was not one nearby.

Following her resignation, Miss Hunter brought a claim for sexual harassment, as well as a number of other employment-related claims.

The tribunal found Miss Hunter had been subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace. In reaching its conclusion, the tribunal recognised that she had been reluctant to make a formal complaint at the time because it was her first job and she was in a junior role.

The tribunal noted that it was surprising that Miss Hunter’s line manager did not further investigate why she did not want to be on the same shift as the deputy store manager and found that her line manager should have been alert to the possibility of harassment.

Additionally, it was found that the store managers were unaware of Lidl’s own anti-harassment policy; no sexual harassment risk assessments had been conducted; there was no evidence of staff training on equality and harassment; and the company relied solely on employees raising complaints before taking action.

Lidl was subsequently ordered to pay Miss Hunter over £50,000 in compensation.

While the case was heard prior to the preventative duty being imposed in October 2024, following the tribunal judgment, Lidl has provided training to the managers concerned and introduced further bullying and harassment training for broader rollout across the business. Lidl also consulted with the EHRC in relation to some further action, including completing a sexual harassment risk assessment.

The EHRC has recently announced that Lidl has also signed a legally binding agreement to further improve its prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace.

In the agreement, Lidl has committed to:

• Run a staff survey relating to sexual harassment within the workplace to 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 diversity, equality and inclusion groups to discuss risks of sexual harassment, and any additional preventative steps which 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.

The case should serve as a warning – all employers have a legal duty to prevent sexual harassment and they must be able to prove they’ve taken reasonable steps to do so. EHRC’s involvement in this matter, and others, is demonstrative of their intention to continue to hold employers to account and use its enforcement powers where necessary.

Complying with the duty to prevent sexual harassment is not a one-off exercise.

Employers must continue to monitor, evaluate, and train staff to identify inappropriate behaviour, respond effectively to complaints, and foster a workplace culture where harassment is not tolerated.

The EHRC’s 8-step guide sets out practical measures employers should take to comply with the proactive duty, namely:

1. Implementing an anti-harassment policy: Employers should have a clear, accessible policy that sets out what sexual harassment is, how staff can report concerns, and what action will follow.
2. Engaging with staff: Employers should ensure employees understand the policy and the consequences of unacceptable behaviour, as well as implementing an open-door culture to evaluate whether the steps being taken are working.
3. Assessing risks: Employers should identify and minimise risk factors in the workplace (e.g. lone working, late-night shifts, or third-party interactions).
4. Implementing reporting systems: Employers should consider offering multiple safe reporting channels to allow workers to raise an issue. Employers should also keep confidential records of all concerns raised, both informal and formal to allow trends to be identified.
5. Providing training: Employers should provide regular, tailored training for staff and managers to spot, report, and handle harassment.
6. Handling complaints: Employers should investigate issues promptly, protect complainants from victimisation, and take proportionate disciplinary action where appropriate.
7. Dealing with third-party risks: Employers should put safeguards in place against harassment from customers, clients, or contractors. These circumstances should be treated as seriously as those by a colleague.
8. Monitoring, evaluating action: Employers should regularly review policies, reports, and outcomes to ensure effectiveness, seeking input from workers or their representatives to consider whether any changes are needed.