It's Christmas party season: Is your business ready?

A practical overview to ensure your business is compliant with the updated duty surrounding prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace Whilst the proactive duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment of its employees in the workplace has been in force since 2024, new changes have come in from 30 October 2026 in the run up to Christmas party season. These changes to the existing duty broaden the scope more widely than it may at first seem. Notably, employers must now take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of its employees, and this applies not only to harassment from the rest of its workforce, but also from third parties with whom they may interact as part of their employment. In our seminar, we will detail what these two significant changes mean for employers and how to ensure businesses remain complaint. We’ll discuss: •What the difference may be between reasonable steps and all reasonable steps •What steps might be considered to be reasonable in practice •Who is classed as a third party •How the duty may be applied to third parties differently to employees Speakers profiles: Tom Martin Tom Martin is a senior associate in the employment law team based in our Lincoln office. He advises both employers and employees on all aspects of employment law, offering practical commercial advice designed to achieve the client’s desired outcomes. Tom often advises on day-to-day problems such as disciplinary and grievance issues, employment contracts, policies and procedures, performance and sickness absence management, and Settlement Agreements. He also advises on more technical issues such as redundancy and restructuring procedures, IR35 compliance, data protection matters, restrictive covenants, and TUPE transactions. He further handles employment tribunal claims involving unfair dismissal, discrimination, and whistleblowing. Emily Hand Emily Hand is a solicitor in our employment department based in Lincoln. Emily studied law at the University of Lincoln, before going on to obtain her Masters and LPC at the University of Law in 2018. She qualified as an employment solicitor in 2022, after completing her training contract here at the firm. She specialises in disciplinary, capability, and grievance processes. Emily also conducts thorough reviews of contracts, policies, and procedures for businesses of all sizes, in addition to regularly negotiating settlement agreements on behalf of employers and employees. Emily further helps business professionals by delivering seminars and sessions through Adaptive HR, providing practical advice to enhance HR functions. Joining instructions Guest speakers Some events may include external speakers. Any views or opinions expressed are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CIPD. Accessibility and reasonable adjustments If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your participation, please contact us and we'll do our best to accommodate your needs.