Ludicrous new rules on the brink of becoming law will enable medics to sue the NHS if a patient insults them, allow bar staff to take legal action against landlords if they are offended by drunk punters, and let baristas take coffee shop owners to a
tribunal if they overhear offensive remarks made by customers. Senior Tories warn the proposed law will lead to an explosion of litigation and force business owners to run their establishments like a police state. Tory backbenchers accused the
Government of taking their eye off the ball by supporting a mad Private Member's Bill, sponsored by two Liberal Democrat parliamentarians, on course to become law within weeks. The Bill was waved through the Commons without a vote during a Friday
sitting when most MPs were back in their constituencies. The Worker Protection Bill will make employers liable for staff being harassed by third parties such as customers or members of the public. It introduces a legal requirement for companies and
public bodies to take all reasonable steps to prevent this. Lorely Burt , the Lib Dem peer and co-sponsor of the Bill, claimed it would offer new protections to retail staff who face racist
abuse from customers, NHS workers who are subject to homophobic harassment by patients, and pub staff who are harassed by drunken customers in relation to their sex, all of whom currently have to rely on the good will of their employer in taking steps to
protect them, rather than the law.
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