Sexual harassment and the law: the British experience

Abstract

Purpose

To explore key legal issues surrounding sexual harassment claims made to employment tribunals and the courts.

Design/methodology/approach

This entails qualitative legal analysis of case decisions. This will involve an exposition of the reasoning behind legal decisions and a critical examination of the courts' or tribunals' interpretation of the law.

Findings

The research provides information about features and trends in sexual harassment litigation in Britain.

Research limitations/implications

This paper outlines a set of preliminary results from an analysis of some sexual harassment cases heard in Britain.

Practical implications

Highlights key implications of legal decisions for human resource policy and practice in organizations. It will also identify deficiencies in management practice that lead to instances of sexual harassment taking place.

Originality/value

Scholars and policymakers in organizations should be interested in an integrated analysis of legal and organizational issues with respect to sexual harassment. The wider potential of the research is supported by the interest of the Equal Opportunities Commission and the willingness of the Commission to be named as an end user of the study.

Citation

Lockwood, G., Rosenthal, P. and Budjanovcanin, A. (2006), "Sexual harassment and the law: the British experience", Managerial Law, Vol. 48 No. 5, pp. 455-466. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090550610715954