(L-R): Francesca Conn, Legal Director, and Caroline Prosser, Partner, Hill Dickinson

What is sexual harassment?
Under English law, sexual harassment is “unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that has the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for the victim”. 

Sexual harassment affects both men and women, can be carried out by anyone and can take various forms including:

• Sexual comments or jokes/‘banter’
• Sexual gestures or mimicking sexual acts
• Suggestive looks or leering
• Propositions and sexual advances
• Sexual posts, messages or comments on social media and WhatsApp groups
• Asking questions about someone’s sex life/discussing your own sex life
• Unwelcome touching including hugging, massaging or kissing

The intention of the perpetrator (or perpetrators if acting as a group) is not relevant and may not be sexual interest in the victim of the harassment. In fact, victims of sexual harassment can include those who, while not specifically the target of the sexual harassment, nevertheless suffer from the degrading/offensive work environment. 

Reported cases, official surveys and anecdotal reports (for example, those galvanised by the #MeToo movement) highlight that sexual harassment is prevalent in all types of jobs and workplaces. Often, however, sexual harassment goes unreported with a regrettably common outcome being that the victim resigns from their position leaving the perpetrator unsanctioned and able to repeat or continue the behaviour, resulting in further victims. 

Workplace sexual harassment on board yachts
The potential risk of sexual harassment occurring in a yacht workplace must be considered very high for several reasons, including:

• Employees living as well as working together in a confined space
• The presence of alcohol and employees socialising outside of working hours
• Common gender power imbalances (women underrepresented in senior positions)
• Crew fulfilling hospitality roles for on-board guests including late night work

Some reports of sexual harassment experienced by superyacht crew have been of a very serious nature, including harassment which crossed into criminal offences, including sexual assault. 

Yacht crew may experience difficulties in reporting incidences of sexual harassment including ongoing physical proximity to the perpetrator and distance from onshore sources of assistance such as managers, or in more serious cases, the police. 

For any crew member in need of immediate support, as well as speaking to the Captain (if appropriate), shore-based managers and any support service provided to the yacht’s specific support services, it is worth bearing in mind that ISWAN is a charity offering a free multi lingual and globally available helpline service for emotional, wellbeing and practical support. 

Active steps to prevent sexual harassment on board yachts 
If the crew employment relationship is subject to English law, the employer is under a positive legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees in the course of their employment, as outlined in The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023. 

Even if this express English duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment does not apply to the specific employment relationship, all well managed yachts will want to actively prevent sexual harassment on board in recognition of the wide-ranging adverse consequences of failing to do so. These include:

• Serious impact (including personal injury) to crew members who are victims
• The possibility of criminal or civil claims and costly settlements or other penalties
• Reputational damage for the yacht, its owners and managers
• Issues with crew productivity and absences, departures and crew retention

The yachts (and by extension their Owners, Managers, Crew Management/Crew Employment companies and senior crew in management positions) that are best able to reduce the risks to crew and to promote a positive inclusive workplace, investing in training and support services, are likely to attract and retain the highest calibre, motivated crew. 

Dealing with harassment by third parties
Charter yachts should specifically consider how to manage risks arising during charter and, how to deal with issues arising when guests are on board. 

Clause 13 MYBA Charter Agreement Use of the Vessel expressly states, ‘The Charterer and Guests shall afford the Crew due respect at all times. No Crew member shall be subjected to any type of harassment, sexual or otherwise, by the Charterer or Guests at any time during the Charter Agreement. […] The Captain shall promptly draw the Charterer’s attention to any infringement of these terms by himself or his Guests, and if such behaviour continue after this warning, the Captain shall inform the Owner or Stakeholder and the Owner may, by notice, in writing given to the Charterer terminate this Agreement…’

This message could be reinforced by the Captain in the arrival briefing to guests.

Our advice
There are a number of steps that you can take to prevent sexual harassment from occurring.  As a minimum we recommend that you have an up-to-date policy and ensure all crew are specifically trained on the issue.

Ideally the steps taken will consist of:

• Having a suitably worded and robust Anti Sexual Harassment Policy which defines sexual harassment and clearly sets out how reports can be made and how they will be dealt with.
• Undertaking a risk assessment specific to the yacht. Crew should be involved in the process of risk assessment as they are well placed to identify specific risks relating to their roles, working life and living arrangements on board.
• Training for crew to ensure familiarity with the Policy and what to do if they witness or experience sexual harassment onboard. Given the number of rotational roles and turnover of seasonal crew a video training upon induction and at the start of each new season could be a practical solution.
• Crew engagement – crew should be asked whether a “speak up” culture exists and whether any issues have been dealt with effectively in order to ensure that there aren’t unreported risks or existing issues on board.

Consideration could be given to raising these questions at performance reviews and exit interviews. 

Hill Dickinson’s specialist superyacht and employment law teams have extensive experience of advising clients on sexual harassment issues. Family offices, yacht management companies and crew management/employment companies can contact them to discuss how best to identify, manage and mitigate the risk of, and issues arising from, sexual harassment as it applies to crew.

Profile links

Hill Dickinson LLP

Click here to become part of The Superyacht Group community, and join us in our mission to make this industry accessible to all, and prosperous for the long-term. We are offering access to the superyacht industry’s most comprehensive and longstanding archive of business-critical information, as well as a comprehensive, real-time superyacht fleet database, for just £10 per month, because we are One Industry with One Mission. Sign up here.