A Shocking New Report on Sexual Harrassment in the Workplace

The Women and Equalities Select Committee has published a report about sexual harassment in the workplace. The Committee found that sexual harassment at work is widespread and commonplace but there has been a failure by employers and regulators to tackle unlawful behaviours.

·         40% of women and 18% of men have experienced unwanted sexual behaviour in the workplace

·         Women aged 18-34 are most at risk of sexual harassment at work, with 43% having experienced it

according to a survey of UK adults that was carried out by the BBC.

The report calls on Government to put sexual harassment at the top of the agenda and sets out five priorities.

·         Introduce a new duty on employers to prevent harassment, supported by a statutory code of practice outlining the steps they can take to do this; and ensuring that interns, volunteers and those harassed by third parties have access to the same legal protections and remedies as their workplace colleagues;

·         Require regulators to take a more active role, starting by setting out the actions they will take to help tackle this problem, including the enforcement action they will take; and making it clear to those they regulate that sexual harassment is a breach of professional standards and a reportable offence with sanctions;

·         Make enforcement processes work better for employees by setting out in the statutory code of practice what employers should do to tackle sexual harassment; and reducing barriers to taking forward tribunal cases, including by extending the time limit for submitting a claim, introducing punitive damages for employers and reducing cost risks for employees;

·         Clean up the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), including by requiring the use of standard, plain English confidentiality clauses, which set out the meaning, limit and effect of the clause, and making it an offence to misuse such clauses; and extending whistleblowing protections so that disclosures to the police and regulators such as the EHRC are protected;

·         Collect robust data on the extent of sexual harassment in the workplace and on the number of employment tribunal claims involving complaints of harassment of a sexual nature.

You can access links to the full report, a summary or the report conclusions here - https://bit.ly/2JRNbTs

ARAG policyholders who have registered to use our Business or Consumer Legal Services website can dip into our law guide to learn more about workplace harassment. The Employee handbook for Business customers sets out non-contractual matter and includes policies and procedures to minimise the risk of potential employee lawsuits, such as discrimination, harassment and unfair dismissal. www.araglegal.co.uk

Is the Criminal Justice System Criminally Under-Funded?

The Justice Select Committee has issued a critical report in response to criminal legal aid reforms. In criminal cases, there is a common law right to legal advice, and a right to legal representation under the European Convention on Human Rights. The committee heard “compelling evidence” of the fragility of the Criminal Bar and criminal defence solicitors' firms, which places these rights at risk.

It concluded that under-funding of the criminal justice system in England and Wales threatens its effectiveness, tarnishing the reputation of the justice system as a whole, and undermining the rule of law.

The Committee recommends that the Government conduct an urgent cross-departmental review of funding of all elements of the criminal justice system, with the aim of restoring resources to a level that enables the system to operate effectively.

Comment:

Legal Expenses Insurance gives limited cover for criminal defence which usually is only available for work-related and motoring prosecutions. As there is no possibility of transferring liability for defence costs from the state to a private funder (such as an insurer), the prospect of an under-funded  system, that potentially compromises an individual’s right to legal representation which is necessary for a fair trial,  is of particular concern.   

Protecting Property From Fraudster Tenants

When you think of ways Problem Tenants could cause your clients financial difficulty you'd usually think of things like them damaging the property, inviting criminal elements in to the home or simply not paying rent. But there are other, more damaging things, that an unscrupulous tenant can do.

One of these things is to apply for a loan or mortgage secured on the property. This can be especially damaging, as there's a chance that your client could end up losing an awful lot of money if the lender issues legal proceedings for repossession. 

So how could this happen? After all the tenant doesn't own the house, your client does. But if that tenant has utility bills or documents showing that they live at the property, they can apply for a new mortgage or loan secured on the property. This will be registered with the Land Registry in due course, which will generate an alert about the fraudulent loan.

That should be it right? Your client receives the alert and stops the unscrupulous tenant from taking out the loan. But this will only work if the contact address that the Land Registry hold for your client isn't the property address. Because otherwise the tenant will be the one who receives the alert and your client will be none the wiser!

Here are four things your clients can do to make taking a fraudulent loan out on their property much more difficult, if not outright impossible:

• Make a list of every property they own
• Check each of those properties with the Land Registry to ensure that they have the right contact details (their home or business address and the right email address)
• Arrange for property alerts to be sent if somebody tries to change the register of any of the properties
• Make sure that any time they buy a new property they repeat this process, and never let a property without the correct alerts set up on it

Keeping track of properties and setting up an alert with the Land Registry is so important. If your clients have a lot of properties advise them to keep an organised list with details of their registration and alerts and that they keep this up to date.

If you are a landlord you can click here to get started with your property alerts, and don't put this one off as it could come back to bite you in future! If you have landlord clients feel free to share this blog with them, as it could be a real life-saver.

ARAG provides access to a legal advice line that can support your clients through an issue such as this, and a wealth of templates and pre-written letters to be used by landlords in disputes with tenants and other bodies. All this on top of the insurance that pays legal costs for landlords to recover vacant possession (subject to the correct legal notice being issued) , to pursue rent arrears and compensation for property damage and to defend criminal prosecutions that arise from renting out property. Indemnity for rent arrears can also be arranged.

The Importance Of Expert Knowledge

Like the solicitors at our partner firms, everyone at ARAG recognises the importance of staying up-to-date with the latest legal developments in those practice areas in which our after-the-event policies are used. But such expertise often extends beyond the realms of purely legal knowledge.

Just one example is the progress over recent years in using immunotherapy treatments for mesothelioma, which offer unprecedented and realistic hope for asbestos victims, but at a considerable price.

Trying to include the cost of such treatments in a settlement requires knowledge, not just of the current legal position, but also the latest clinical trials and decisions with regard to NHS funding of such drugs.

Even today, when medical miracles abound, the prognosis for mesothelioma patients is bleak and the standard treatments brutal. A combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy may extend life for some terminally ill patients, but the reprieve is likely to be measured in months, not years.

Relatively new “immunotherapy” drugs, such as nivolumab and pembrolizumab, have been approved for NHS use in treating some cancers under certain circumstances, but trials are still ongoing for mesothelioma patients, so many would have to pay for them personally, to benefit.

The cost, even for a short course of such drugs, currently runs to tens of thousands of pounds which, if they do their job, could turn into an annual bill well into six figures.

Such sums, especially given the uncertainty surrounding both the treatment’s success and for how long it might be needed, inevitably make things very difficult when trying to reach a settlement in this sort of claim.

Nonetheless, I’m very pleased to say that we have had some recent successes with partner firms working on this sort of industrial disease case. Through their diligence and expertise, clients who have been dealt a cruel hand now have the hope afforded by the latest in medical advances.

Such successes demonstrate the importance of all the homework that we and our solicitor firms do to stay in touch with the latest developments in relevant practice areas. They also reflect ARAG’s mission, for more than 80 years, to provide equal access to justice for all citizens, regardless of their means.

In these cases, access to justice might also be the difference between life and death.

Government Consults About Longer Tenancies

The Government is consulting about measures to increase security for tenants in the private rented sector – such as introducing a 3 year tenancy with a 6 month break clause. The private rented sector makes up 20% of all households.

The average length of residence in the private rented sector is 3.9 years in comparison with 17.5 years in the owner occupier sector and 11.3 years in the social sector. However, 81% of tenancies granted are for an initial fixed term of 6 or 12 months

The consultation, which is open until 26 August, seeks views in the barriers to longer tenancies and how to over- come them. Any policy changes brought forward as a result of the consultation will be subject to appropriate assessment. It is likely that further grounds for repossession may be introduced, for example to allow a landlord to sell their property that is subject to a three year let.

With an eye on how reforms may affect our Landlords’ Legal and Commercial Property Owners’ products, we will track the consultation response document and any legislation that emerges to implement changes. In due course you can expect some further blogs as we keep you updated.

To make sure you don't miss future blogs you can subscribe to our updates by entering your email address in the box on the right hand side of this page. 

If you'd like to see the original announcement from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government you can do so here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/longer-tenancy-plans-to-give-renters-more-security