Pubs, restaurants and hotels
Customer misconduct, alcohol-related incidents, repeat offenders, staff reporting routes and whether managers actually intervene.
Employer support · Urgent workplace matters
A customer has harassed an employee. What should you do now?
When a member of staff complains about a customer, client, patient or service user, an employer needs to deal with the immediate concern without making an already difficult situation worse. We offer focused, paid triage and a practical first action plan.
Urgent requests are considered according to availability. This is not a 24-hour emergency or safeguarding response service.
The first decision matters
Protect the employee. Preserve the evidence. Decide the next step.
It may be a report about unwanted sexual comments from a customer in a pub, racist abuse from a client, inappropriate behaviour by a visitor, or repeated harassment by someone receiving care. Employers need to understand what has been alleged, whether anyone remains at risk, what should be recorded, and what proportionate action is available.
That is often harder when service users are vulnerable, the customer is commercially important, alcohol is involved, or the manager receiving the complaint has never handled a similar situation.
Aubrey can help the employer identify immediate protective measures, review the response and plan an appropriate process. Decisions about staff, customers and service users remain with the employer.
In practice
Where this service is particularly useful
Care and supported living
Complaints involving patients, residents or service users, with careful attention to safeguarding, capacity, care obligations and employee safety.
Retail and public-facing teams
Abuse by visitors, customers or contractors, isolated staff, lone working and practical risk controls.
30 October 2026
The legal position is changing.
From 30 October 2026, the Employment Rights Act 2025 strengthens the duty to prevent sexual harassment to all reasonable steps and introduces employer liability for harassment by third parties, subject to the statutory all-reasonable-steps defence. Third parties can include customers, clients, contractors, patients and service users. The new third-party protection is not confined to sexual harassment.
The response needs to reflect the workplace and the actual risk. An up-to-date policy is relevant, but so are staff training, incident reporting, appropriate protective measures and what managers do when a complaint is raised. Employers should also consider any immediate safeguarding or safety duties that apply independently of the harassment rules.
For the official position, see ACAS guidance on third-party harassment and the Government employer guidance.
Preventative support
Not facing a live complaint? Review the arrangements now.
We also offer a separately scoped workplace harassment compliance review, looking at existing policies, reporting routes, risk assessments, customer-facing procedures, manager responsibilities and training needs. We can then agree practical updates rather than an unnecessary wholesale rewrite.
An employee has complained
Tell us the deadline and the immediate concern.
Use the secure initial enquiry route without including employee names, medical details or confidential evidence. We will confirm availability and scope before any work is accepted. Where there is immediate danger, use the relevant emergency or safeguarding procedure rather than waiting for a consultancy response.