What is employer duty of care?
Duty of care is the responsibility that business owners have for their employees. This means that you have to make decisions regarding your employees’ well being that is ethically and legally sound. According to the UK government, employers must make sure that their business is safe and that they are taking care of their employee’s health and welfare. Duty of care is usually the responsibility of the company owner, but it is also a term which applies to other roles, such as accountants, manufacturers and auditors.
Duty of care may be written into a company contract and shows that the company director or owner understands how to remain ethically sound. While duty of care can apply to many different aspects of a company director or business owner’s role, this guide will focus primarily on duty of care towards employees.
What happens if an employer doesn’t follow their duty of care?
If an employer doesn’t follow the duty of care towards their employees, they may face legal action. They may also be breaking the law, and so may face action from regulatory bodies. Below, we’ll provide some considerations for keeping compliant with duty of care.
Duty of care law
When it comes to making sure that employees are safe, employers have several legal responsibilities. Duty of care covers issues regarding health and safety, harassment and healthy eating initiatives. It may involve assessing your remote or flexible working schemes to make sure that they allow for a work-life balance. Below, we’ll look at a few areas covered by duty of care.
Health and safety
The UK government’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) states that all employers are responsible for following health and safety regulations in the workplace, which involves assessing and managing risks. Also, according to the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, employers must ensure the health, safety and welfare of their workers when at work.
You must make sure that all of your workers are aware of the risks in the workplace, as well as provide the correct health and safety information. You have a legal duty to do so under the Health and Safety Information for Employees Regulations (HSIER). For more information, please read the HSE website’s page on an employer’s responsibilities.
Stress management
Employers also have a duty of care towards managing levels of stress faced by employees in the workplace. This is because stress is considered a health and safety risk, and the HSE advises that employers should conduct a stress risk assessment. Being able to identify the causes of stress and how to prevent them can help you to manage your employee’s stress in the workplace.
Mental health
For employee mental health, you might use an employee assistance programme (EAP) in order to make sure that the right accommodations are in place for employees with mental health issues.
Personal injury claims
Duty of care also covers when your employee makes a personal injury claim. This involves paying them compensation for their injury if they have had an accident at work. It also covers following this up with a thorough risk assessment, as well as adjustments to your workplace so further incidents don’t occur.
Healthy eating
Making sure that your employees have a healthy diet is also a duty of care. This could involve providing healthy options in your canteen, or educating your employees about diet and general health. If you have any perks relating to providing your employees with snacks, you could replace any unhealthy snacks with healthier options. You could also order in fresh fruit and vegetable deliveries to their address if they are working from home.
Health and safety training
To prevent incidents from happening, it’s a good idea to make sure that your employees receive the right health and safety training. According to the HSE, employers should consider creating an adequate training plan that meets the health and safety requirements of their workplace. They also need to check to make sure that their training is effective, as well as deliver the training effectively.
It’s particularly important to make sure that new employees receive the right training. You might provide designated employees with fire safety training as well.
Harassment
Preventing workplace harassment also falls under an employer’s duty of care. The HSE defines harassment as: ‘unacceptable behaviour by one or more individuals that can take many different forms… Harassment occurs when someone is repeatedly and deliberately abused, threatened and/or humiliated in circumstances relating to work.’
Therefore, the definition is fairly broad and includes bullying, discrimination and criminal offences. It is important to make sure that you have a policy in place that informs employees about the rules surrounding harassment and bullying. This could include any procedures that you have for effectively dealing with such instances.
Discrimination
Discrimination can be a form of harassment in the workplace. Preventing discrimination is another duty of care that employers have. To protect employees from discrimination, it’s important for employers to follow up any incidents with the correct procedures. You could give an employee a warning if there is enough evidence that they are discriminating against another employee.
According to the Equality Act 2010, employees have a right to not be discriminated against on the basis of protected characteristics such as age, gender reassignment, being married or in a civil partnership, being pregnant or on maternity leave, disability, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation. For more information about discrimination and rights, please visit the UK government website where you can learn more.
Duty of care towards employees covers many areas such as harassment, personal injury, mental health, stress and healthy eating. Employers must make sure that they follow the UK law surrounding health and safety in order to ensure that they are performing their duty of care. Providing your employees with health and safety training can help your business to remain compliant with the surrounding law.
