Angela Rayner proposes new law to protect interns from sex pests

Angela Rayner has unveiled plans for a new law to protect interns from sexual harassment in the workplace.

Labour's deputy leader said the issue was "rife" and need to be tackled to support women at work.

New legislation would be put in place as part of the party's New Deal for Working People if Labour wins the next general election.

However, Unite the Union accused Labour of watering down wider pledges on workers' rights in that plan.

At their party conference in September, Labour committed to strengthen a recently-introduced a legal duty for employers to "stop sexual harassment before it starts" by taking "all reasonable steps".

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Speaking at the Chartered Management Institute's Women's Conference, Ms Rayner said sexual harassment affected millions of people and "all too often" women were targeted in their first job, so more still needed to be done to "stamp out" the problem, including for contracted interns and volunteers.

"Sexual harassment remains rife in workplaces across Britain," she said.

"For any employee, but especially interns and volunteers, experiencing sexual harassment can destroy confidence and ruin early careers.

"My message to working women is clear: with our New Deal for Working People, a Labour government will have your back."

'Ultimately good for business'

The Crime Survey of England and Wales findings that one-in-four alleged incidents of sexual harassment happen at work, with one-in-nine of those complaints from women being targeted by a colleague.

Labour's plans would make employers liable if they are made aware of an incident impacting on contracted interns and volunteers who have signed a worker agreement and failed to take action.

Ann Francke, boss of the Chartered Management Institute, welcomed measures to strengthen employee wellbeing as "ultimately good for business".

Good employers recognise that they need to move swiftly and decisively - with clear policies in place when it comes to tackling these behaviours - both for the sake of their teams and also to protect their reputation."

Labour's New Deal plan also includes a requirement for large firms to create and implement gender pay gap action plans and steps to support women experiencing menopause symptoms at work.   

The party is currently preparing a final document setting out its proposals, which it says will be in a "form that can be campaigned on".

It insists there have been no substantial changes since last October, when the issue of workers' rights was thrashed out at Labour's National Policy Forum.

But Sharon Graham, the leader of the Unite union, said the latest version of Labour's New Deal policy was "unrecognisable" from previous versions and changed what had been a "real new deal for workers" into "a charter for bad bosses."

She said: "This new Labour document on the New Deal, issued to the unions on Monday, is a row back on a row back - It is totally unrecognisable from the original proposals produced with the unions."

The original workers rights pledges included fundamental workers' rights from day one, including statutory sick pay for all, a ban on zero-hour contracts, and a ban on so-called "fire and rehire" practices.

Claiming that Labour don't want a law against fire and rehire, Ms Graham accused Labour of "effectively ripping up the promise of legislation on a new deal for workers in its first 100 days" and replacing it with a code of conduct.

"Likewise, the proposal to legislate against zero hours contracts is watered down to almost nothing," she added.

"In truth this new document is not worthy of discussion and all unions must now demand that Labour changes course and puts the original New Deal for Workers back on the table."