Fuller’s to train staff to prevent sexual harassment after employee settlement

Thousands of staff at Fuller’s are to receive training to prevent sexual harassment after the pub chain reached a settlement with a former employee.

It comes after a women brought a legal case against the pub group supported by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

The staff member claimed she was subjected to homophobic and misogynistic comments over several months while working in one of Fullers’ pubs, including remarks about her appearance and her partner.

Fuller’s reached a settlement with the employee which saw it apologise and agree to implement mandatory sexual harassment training for kitchen and front of house staff across its national network of pubs, which includes 377 managed and tenanted inns.

Under the Equality Act 2010, all employers must take reasonable steps to protect their staff from harassment.

A Fuller’s spokesperson said: “As soon as we were made aware of the situation, we took immediate action resulting in the dismissal of a member of staff. We take the wellbeing of our team members seriously and take on board the recommendations.”

The EHRC acts as a whistleblowing organisation and encourages employees to report incidences where companies have breached equality law.

EHRC chairwoman Kishwer Falkner said: “Nobody should suffer treatment of the kind this woman faced while trying to do her job.

“We hope this settlement will provide a sense of justice and enable her to move past this episode.

“We are pleased that Fuller’s has committed to taking steps to make sure their employees are protected from unacceptable harassment in the future. All employers should follow this example and ensure they are acknowledging and addressing the issue.

“As Britain’s equality regulator, we will continue to intervene in cases such as this and hold employers to account by using our unique powers.”

Earlier this year, the EHRC partnered with McDonald’s in response to concerns over the handling of sexual harassment complaints in its restaurants.

This led to a BBC investigation which uncovered allegations that employees as young as 17 were “routinely” groped and harassed at the fast food chain.

McDonald’s apologised and launched a dedicated unit to handle complaints. It has made several legally binding commitments with the EHRC, including improving its response to complaints and training managers to help identify areas of risk in each restaurant.