Lidl GB has signed a legal agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to strengthen its sexual harassment protection in the workplace.

It comes after an employment tribunal in 2023 found the supermarket chain had failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent the harassment of a young female employee by a colleague between 2019 and 2021.

The tribunal ruled that the retailer’s store managers where the employee worked were not aware of Lidl’s anti-harassment policy, had not carried out risk assessments, and relied on staff complaints before acting.

Under the Equality Act 2010, employers are legally responsible if harassment occurs and they have not taken adequate preventative measures.

It is understood by the EHRC that since the ruling Lidl has introduced further training for managers, expanded its bullying and harassment training across the business, and worked with the Commission on risk assessments.

The new agreement, signed under the Worker Protection Act’s preventative duty, commits Lidl to further steps, including running a staff survey on harassment and reviewing preventative measures, monitoring informal complaints to spot risks and trends, reviewing formal complaint handling and past cases from 2023–24, consulting its DE&I groups on additional protections, and continuing to update internal policies, training and risk assessments.

A spokesperson for Lidl told Retail Gazette: “No person should be subject to harassment in the workplace, so providing our colleagues with a safe and respectful environment is an absolute priority for us. That’s why we have robust policies and procedures in place which we’ve taken steps to further strengthen over the past few years.

“We continually look for opportunities to drive improvements to our processes and ways of working and, therefore, value the opportunity to work voluntarily with the EHRC, to see where we could define actions that will further support our values and colleague experience.

EHRC chairwoman Baroness Kishwer Falkner added: “We welcome the improvements Lidl GB has already made since an employment tribunal ruled against them, and their willingness to take the further steps we have recommended.

“Sexual harassment is never acceptable in the workplace. We welcome the improvements Lidl has already made since the tribunal ruling and their willingness to take the further steps we have recommended.”

The EHRC said it will continue to monitor Lidl’s progress against the commitments.

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