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05 July 2007 / Michael Salter , Chris Bryden
Issue: 7280 / Categories: Features , Employment
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Third party harassment

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To what extent can employers be held liable for harassment caused to their employees by third parties? Michael Salter and Chris Bryden report

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in Gravell v London Borough of Bexley UKEAT/0587/06/CEA, [2007] All ER (D) 220 (May) opens up the possibility that employers can be held liable for the harassment of their employees by the actions of third parties, be they customers in a shop or schoolchildren in a classroom.

DISCRIMINATION LAW

The law of discrimination, before the addition of the relevant harassment provisions into the various discrimination legislation, was quite clear. In Burton v De Vere Hotels Ltd [1997] ICR 1, [1996] IRLR 596 the EAT allowed an appeal by two waitresses against the finding of the employment tribunal that they had not been directly discriminated against by their employer when they were subjected to racially offensive remarks by a person working as a comedian at a private function in their employer’s hotel, but not employed by the respondent. While the harassment provisions were not in

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