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Raising a claim for sexual harassment in an employment tribunal: time limits

If you experience sexual harassment at work, you may want to make a claim in an employment tribunal. To do so, you need to make the claim within three months (minus one day) of the incident. In this blog, we outline the options available if you experience sexual harassment at work, and why we think the three-month time limit should be extended.

What is sexual harassment?

Sexual harassment is a form of gender-based violence. It is broadly defined as unwanted conduct of a sexual nature.

If you are experiencing sexual harassment at work, you do not have to put up with it. There are a number of options available to you.

What steps can you take if you have experienced sexual harassment at work?

Usually, the first step in addressing workplace sexual harassment is to raise any concerns with your employer informally. Some options are to:

• Tell someone else what is happening, e.g. a trusted colleague, a friend, or a manager.
• Contact an adviser who specialises in employment issues, e.g. an adviser at your local Citizens Advice Bureau or law centre, or a specialist employment lawyer.
• Speak with your Trade Union representative, if you are a member of a trade union. They may be able to deal with the matter on your behalf.
• Check out your employer’s relevant policies and procedures. For example, sexual harassment, bullying and harassment, dignity and respect, health and safety at work, equal opportunities, grievance and disciplinary policies.

Many organisations also have formal procedures for dealing with sexual harassment. These policies describe the process and steps you can take.

If you are unable to resolve the issue informally (or it is not safe for you to try), you can make a formal complaint to your employer. If your employer has no procedures to do this, including a grievance procedure, you could use the Acas grievance procedure.

Making a claim in an employment tribunal

If you have been sexually harassed at work, you may be able to make a claim in an employment tribunal (ET) against your employer and/ or the person who harassed you.

The claim must be made to an ET within:

• 3 months, minus one day, from the date of the incident of sexual harassment; or
• 3 months, minus one day, from the date of the last incident if it was a period of harassment.

The ET is independent and will assess whether your employer and/ or the person who harassed you acted unlawfully.

Before you submit a claim to an ET, you must contact Acas’ (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) ‘early conciliation’ (EC) service.

EC is a free process where Acas can help you try and resolve the issue. (See information about this service here)

You need to contact Acas within:

• 3 months, minus one day, from the date of the incident; or
• 3 months, minus one day, from the date of the last incident if it was a period of harassment.

EC has the effect of “stopping the clock” on the normal time limit period for making an ET claim. If you cannot reach an agreement with your employer and/ or the person who harassed you during EC, Acas will issue an EC certificate. The clock will restart once the EC certificate is issued.

You will always have at least one month (minus one day) from the date the EC certificate is issued to raise the claim.