Anti-harassment law could hasten ‘erasure’ of pubs, says Conservative peer
Ministers have proposed a ban in the Employment Rights Bill on harassment by third parties.
A Government anti-harassment drive could hasten the “erasure” of historic pubs, a Conservative peer has claimed.
Toby Young said efforts to stop pub-goers from harassing bar staff based on their protected characteristics, such as their gender, sex, race, religion or disability, might have a “chilling effect on free speech”.
Ministers have proposed a harassment clause in the Employment Rights Bill, which if agreed would mean employers must take “all reasonable steps” to prevent third parties – including their customers – from harassing their staff.
Lord Young of Acton told peers he feared the move could “accelerate the erasure of such a vital part of our history and heritage, the good old British pub”.
Making his maiden speech in the Lords during the Bill’s second reading debate, he said: “I fear that that will have a chilling effect on free speech.
“If you think about it, how will the owners of hospitality businesses, how will publicans protect their employees from being harassed by third parties given that the employment tribunal has defined harassment as including indirect harassment, which includes overheard conversations which aren’t necessarily directed at them?
“How will publicans be expected to protect their employees from overhearing conversations in pubs by customers that they may find offensive or upsetting in virtue of their protected characteristics?”
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has previously described “complex questions” in the Bill around the balance between third parties’ rights to freedom of expression, and employees’ protection from harassment and their right to private and family life.
It backed “the prohibition of third-party sexual harassment” but called for “further analysis” from the Government to understand how to balance these rights.
“That’s an extremely complicated area of law, and I don’t envy publicans trying to get their heads around that,” Lord Young said.
He later added: “I wonder how many publicans will decide, in the face of all their other difficulties, that this new duty, the cost of complying with it, and the additional risks it entails will mean the game is no longer worth the candle.”
