Sexual harassment and harassment based on sex at law firms: what the Equality Act requires of a firm

Law firms advise their clients on equality. As employers, they are subject to the same rules. The reference rule is Organic Law 3/2007 of 22 March for the effective equality of women and men, whose consolidated text is shown as updated to 2 August 2024.

This guide focuses on sexual harassment and harassment based on sex: how the law defines them and what prevention obligations it imposes on the company.

The definitions in Article 7

Two ideas stand out for a firm. The first is that harassment based on sex does not require conduct of a sexual nature: behaviour carried out on the basis of the person's sex is enough. The second is paragraph 4: making a promotion, pay or a professional opportunity conditional on accepting a situation of harassment is discrimination.

The duty of prevention in Article 48

Article 48 obliges companies to promote working conditions that prevent the commission of offences and other conduct against sexual freedom and moral integrity at work, with particular attention to sexual harassment and harassment based on sex.

Among the measures the company may adopt, and which must be negotiated with the employees' representatives, the law mentions:

• Drawing up and disseminating codes of good practice.
• Information campaigns.
• Training actions.

Paragraph 2 adds that the employees' representatives must contribute to prevention, raising awareness among staff and informing management of conduct that may foster such situations.

What Article 48 does not detail

Article 48 does not regulate a specific action protocol for private companies. The law does expressly mention a protocol against harassment in its Article 62, but for public administrations. That does not mean a firm should not have one: the duty to promote conditions that prevent harassment requires mechanisms to prevent it and to act when it occurs, and it is wise to check what the applicable collective agreement provides.

Connection with other obligations

Harassment prevention also appears in other rules we have already reviewed:

• Equality plans. Article 45 obliges companies with fifty or more employees to draw up and apply an equality plan, and the diagnosis must include prevention of sexual harassment and harassment based on sex, as we explain in the guide to equality plans at firms.
• Whistleblowing channel. It can serve as a route for reporting such conduct, under the terms of Law 2/2023 on the whistleblowing channel.
• Occupational risk prevention. The risk assessment must take into account the working conditions of each post, as we recall in the guide to occupational risk prevention at firms.

Why it matters at a firm

At a firm, where the careers of associates and trainees may depend on their superiors' assessment, paragraph 4 of Article 7 has special relevance. Prevention is not only a legal obligation: it is a condition for retaining talent.

Checklist

1. Circulate the definitions in Article 7 to all staff.
2. Approve a code of good practice, negotiated with the legal representatives if any.
3. Train partners, team leaders and staff.
4. Establish an internal procedure for reporting and action, and review the applicable agreement.
5. Coordinate these measures with the equality plan, if the firm is obliged to have one, and with the whistleblowing channel.

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