Under provisions of the Equality Act 2010 that came into force on 1 October 2010, an employer can be held liable for harassment of an employee by a third party, for example a customer or client, on the ground of sex, disability, age, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation.
EU-level employer and trade union organisations have agreed guidelines to help tackle third-party violence and harassment at work.
The aim of the guidelines is to ensure that every workplace has a results-oriented policy in place to address the issue. They set out practical steps that can be taken by employers, workers and trade union representatives to reduce, prevent and mitigate problems.
Employers should make sure they are aware of their new responsibilities in this regard.
The guidelines can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=89&newsId=896&furtherNews=yes.