Employers: are you ready for the new third-party harassment rules?

For employers, October 2026 brings another important change to workplace law, and this time, the focus is on something that can be harder to control: what happens when inappropriate behaviour comes from someone outside your organisation.

From October, employers will have new obligations in relation to harassment of their employees by third parties. At the same time, the existing duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment will be strengthened to a duty to take all reasonable steps.

For Scottish businesses, this means now is a good time to look at whether your policies and procedures are actually fit for purpose.

Third-party harassment is harassment of an employee by someone who does not work for the employer. That could include a customer, client, contractor, supplier or other visitor to the workplace. The fact that the person responsible isn't one of your employees doesn't mean an employer can simply ignore what has happened.

The new rules will place greater responsibility on employers to take action to prevent this type of harassment. Don’t wait until a serious incident happens before considering what you need to do.

Employers should be thinking about the risks that exist within their particular workplace and the situations in which employees could be exposed to inappropriate behaviour from third parties. That might look very different depending on the business. A restaurant, hotel or retail business, for example, is likely to have much more regular contact between employees and members of the public than an office-based business. A professional services firm may need to think about interactions with clients, visitors and external contractors.

October isn't far away, so employers should consider reviewing their existing arrangements now:

• Look at your sexual harassment policy and check that it covers harassment by third parties.
• Do your existing risk assessments identify situations where employees could be exposed to inappropriate behaviour from customers, clients, contractors or other visitors?
  
• Review your training modules – employees should know what to do if they experience or witness harassment, while managers should understand how to respond if a concern is raised.
  
• Consider how incidents will be recorded, investigated and dealt with. Ensure action is taken when something goes wrong.
  

Now is a good deadline for a workplace check-up. The changes coming into force in October are part of a wider programme of employment law reform under the Employment Rights Act 2025 and the changes around harassment are an immediate reason to review workplace policies and practices. In addition, as of 30th October, employers will have a new duty to tell workers about their right to join a trade union. This is likely to mean employers need to consider how that information is provided to new and existing staff and whether their onboarding documentation needs updating.

Ness Gallagher can advise employers on employment law and help businesses understand how changes to legislation may affect their workplace policies and procedures, as well as ensuring that any disputes are dealt with efficiently and effectively should they arise.