New laws under the Equality Act 2010 intended to protect employees from harassment or victimisation from colleagues or third parties could be open to abuse, according to a leading employment lawyer.

“Claims of harassment under the new Act do not require a comparator, thereby making it easier for employees to make their claims,” said Simon Bond, a partner at West Midlands firm Challinors.

“In addition a new ‘three strikes’ rule means that employers will be liable for harassment carried out against its employees by third parties such as customers, contractors or third parties.

“This liability will apply if the employee has been harassed on three occasions by a third party – the third party could be a different person each time and the worry for employers is that they may only find out about the harassment on the third occasion.

“Clearly such a rule could be open to abuse by the unscrupulous.”

The core provisions of the Equality Act 2010 came into force last month and are, according to Simon, “a major piece of legislation which will affect all employers and service providers in relation to matters of discrimination, equality and diversity, and contains new duties, responsibilities and policy initiatives with the aim of simplifying and bringing together previous existing pieces of discrimination legislation.

“In particular, harassment covers any unwanted conduct that has the effect of violating dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment,” he said.

“Employment law and in particular equality in the workplace has moved-on significantly since the 1960′s and 1970′s, as depicted in the current television drama ‘Mad Men’, which serves to demonstrate to employers how such practices would not be acceptable in today’s workplace.

“Today and under the new Act, harassment can take many forms from physical contact, jokes, offensive language and gossip, through to a failure to safeguard confidential information, particularly pay disclosure, characteristics which some may argue are features of many a workplace and its banter in the 21st Century.

“Whilst the Act harmonises protection from harassment in the workplace to include most of the protected characteristics, it now also extends to colour or nationality.”