Legal changes define sexual harassment

Sexual harassment has been defined in UK law for the first time, under legislative changes made on 1 October to implement the European Equal Treatment Directive.

The Employment Equality (Sex Discrimination) Regulations 2005 define harassment as unwanted conduct "on ground of sex" or "of a sexual nature".

This means that a woman will be able to claim harassment if she can simply show that unwanted behaviour was directed at her because she was a woman; previously she would also have had to show that a man would have been treated differently.

Sexually suggestive comments and other behaviour which might be offensive to both sexes would also probably be covered under the new definition.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said that the new regulations "will force employers to take their responsibilities towards providing a harassment-free working environment more seriously."

* The TSSA rail union has won a sex discrimination case against Network Rail, over the company's failure to treat staff a female employee or to follow agreed procedures when it took its maintenance work back in-house from contractors.

Having been a maintenance manager for contractor Jarvis Rail, Laetitia Booth transferred to Network Rail and applied for a managerial job, but she was allocated to a different job in what amounted to a demotion.

Following the tribunal victory, TSSA general secretary Gerry Doherty said: "As a publicly owned company, Network Rail should be leading the way in terms of promoting equal opportunities, not breaking the law."