Charities: would the EAT consider your anti-harassment training “stale”?

With a greater emphasis in the sector on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), as well as the ongoing need to ensure appropriate safeguarding of all those who come into contact with a charity, many charities may find a recent decision of the Employment Appeals Tribunal useful as a prompt to consider whether the anti-harassment training they have provided to their employees is adequate.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal upheld an employment tribunal’s decision to reject an employer’s defence to a racial harassment claim, based on training which had been delivered several years before the events in question and was “clearly stale”.

This suggests that it is not necessarily enough for charities to provide anti-harassment training to employees; charities should monitor the effectiveness of such training, and, if necessary, provide further training.

For more on the decision, head over to our sister blog, hr law live.