Even though the third party harassment provisions on the Equality Act 2010 have been abolished, there are still legal avenues open to employees who are harassed by customers, suppliers, etc., (see below). A recent case in the USA shows how seven supermarket employees said 'enough is enough' and received $487,500 in compensation.

The female employees were sexually harassed by the same customer over a number of years. The man visited the store almost daily and would make lewd comments to both employees and customers, in addition to grabbing employees, cornering them, touching their breasts, and pulling one employee onto his lap. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said the numerous complaints by female employees to store management were dismissed as “hearsay,” even though there was supporting CCTV evidence. Employees were told the customer could not be banned from the store unless the security department personally witnessed him engaging in the offensive behaviour. Title VII of the US Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits sexual harassment and requires employers to take prompt action to investigate and to stop the behaviour after they receive complaints.

In the UK, in such circumstances, employees could bring a direct discrimination claim where the employer failed to act because of a protected characteristic, or a harassment claim on the basis that the employer's inaction amounts to unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic that violated the employees dignity or created an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them. In addition an employee may resign and claim constructive dismissal for breach of trust and confidence where they are subjected to third-party harassment which the employer ignores.

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