Labour’s crackdown on banter is a threat to free speech that will allow people to “sue for hurt feelings”, ministers have been warned. The Telegraph has the story:
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said new rules requiring companies to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent harassment of staff by third parties were too broad-brush and could lead to “excessive limitations on debate”.
In a briefing to peers, the equalities watchdog urged Parliament to weigh-up the “complexities” of Angela Rayner’s Employment Rights Bill to ensure that free speech “is not subject to disproportionate interference”.
During a second reading of the Bill in the House of Lords, Lord Strathcarron said the requirement to stop harassment of staff by third parties, including customers, was an “Alice in Wonderland” clause that would “satisfy the whims of the ever-changing, latest version of group think”.
Lord Strathcarron, the chairman of Unicorn Publishing Group, warned of a chilling effect on free speech.
He said: “Would Waterstones, for example, risk arranging another book signing by JK Rowling on the off-chance that one of the author’s fans will arrive wearing a T-shirt saying ‘woman = adult human female’, knowing that their employees could sue for hurt feelings, real or vexatious?”
Lord Young echoed his concerns and said he was worried the heavy-handed rules would “accelerate the erasure of such a vital part of our history and heritage – the good old British pub”.
Bosses have warned the new legislation will burden them with excessive red tape, put them off hiring and threaten to chill free speech in public spaces such as pubs.
The far-reaching new rules will hand greater power to unions and make it easier for staff to take their employers to tribunal over workplace grievances.
Ms Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, is overseeing the reforms and said they would help make employment more secure in Britain.
However, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) this week acknowledged that the Bill was likely to have a “net negative” impact on the economy.
Business groups have called on Ms Rayner to delay her employment rights reforms.
The leaders of UKHospitality and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) told The Telegraph that the Deputy Prime Minister should rethink her plans in light of the OBR’s warning.
The groups collectively represent millions of British businesses, who are already facing a rise in employers’ National Insurance contributions (NICs) next month.
Lord Young of Acton, who co-founded the Free Speech Union, said: “How will publicans be expected to protect their employees from overhearing conversations in pubs by customers that they may find offensive or upsetting?
“When it was suggested [in the House of Commons] that pubs might have to employ ‘banter bouncers’ as one of the reasonable steps to protect employees, it was met with derisive, dismissive laughter by the government benches as a ludicrous straw man, but I don’t think it is a straw man.
“Publicans will have to take legal advice on how to limit their liability. I wonder how many publicans will decide, in the face of all their other difficulties, that this new duty, the cost of complying with it and the additional risks it entails, will mean the game is no longer worth the candle?”
Worth reading in full.
Say no to ‘banter bouncers’! Use our tool to email a peer and help stop it.
