Daily Mail, on UK Politics, 2 November 2026

7.3out of 10Serious

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Small-boat migrants working in Britain illegally can sue their bosses for harassment under Labour's strengthened workers' rights laws, new guidance warns. The human rights watchdog has published fresh direction on the 'legal obligations' for bosses to tackle harassment after Angela Rayner 's Employment Rights Act came into force on Friday. The guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) includes the case of a 'migrant worker without a valid work permit' to explain what could now constitute harassment.

Businesses are required to take 'all reasonable steps', rather than simply 'reasonable steps', to prevent sexual and other harassment of their employees. The EHRC guidance states that even if somebody is working illegally, if their boss did not take 'all reasonable steps' then a 'tribunal can now hear the worker's claim'. 'The fact that a contract of employment is illegal will not normally prevent a worker pursuing their harassment claim' under workers' rights laws.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'This is farcical. Labour should be stopping the boats and securing our borders. Instead, they are handing out even more rights to illegal immigrants.' The EHRC gives the example of a migrant working illegally. It says: 'A migrant worker without a valid work permit is harassed by her colleague while working for a company. Small-boat migrants working in Britain illegally can sue their bosses for harassment under Labour's strengthened workers' rights laws The human rights watchdog has published fresh direction on the 'legal obligations' for bosses to tackle harassment after Angela Rayner's Employment Rights Act came into force on Friday 'The contract of employment is illegal because the worker does not have a work permit. 'However, the tribunal can hear the worker's claim for harassment.

While her employment with the company may have created an opportunity for the colleague to harass the worker, the harassment was not dependent on her employment. 'She could have been subjected to the harassment even if she had not been in employment with the company.' Under Labour's new laws, companies can be liable if employees are harassed by 'third parties', including customers, self-employed contractors or freelancers, if they failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent it.

Businesses face being taken to tribunals and paying uncapped compensation if they are found not to have taken all reasonable steps to stop any harassment related to 'protected characteristics' including age, disability, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and gender reassignment. The move comes after a Malaysian migrant with no legal right to work in the UK was awarded more than £5,000 after winning an employment tribunal case for discrimination in September.

Hotel manager Erin Ong did not have a permit to work at the Fisherbeck Hotel in Ambleside, Cumbria, but was still awarded the payout for compensation for race, sex and disability discrimination after an employment judge ruled in her favour. It was found that she was discriminated against by being made to work in conditions that aggravated her asthma, being required to show her passport, and because she was sacked for refusing to move accommodation.

A government spokesman said: 'The changes introduced on Friday mean employers must take stronger action to make sure everyone can feel safe at work.' READ MORE: Shabana Mahmood poised to massively cut back immigration crackdown in wake of demands from Labour's Left-wing

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What we found (2)

The Daily Mail turns equality guidance about a worker without a work permit who is harassed at work into a story about small-boat migrants gaining the right to sue. Its headline puts in quotation marks words nobody in the article said. It pairs the story with a Channel crossing photograph, although neither the guidance example nor the tribunal case it reports involves a boat crossing.

  1. Headline goes beyond the article

    Serious

    “Small boat migrants working in Britain illegally 'can sue their bosses under Angela Rayner's strengthened workers' rights laws'”

    Why this matters
    The headline sets 'can sue their bosses under Angela Rayner's strengthened workers' rights laws' in quotation marks and attaches it to 'Small boat migrants'.
    The impression it gives
    That someone, most likely the EHRC, said small-boat migrants can now sue their bosses because of Rayner's law.
    The context
    Nobody in the article says these words. The EHRC example the article quotes is a 'migrant worker without a valid work permit' who is harassed by a colleague. The only real case it gives is a Malaysian hotel manager without a permit. Neither involves small boats.

    How we know

    • Elsewhere in the article“migrant worker without a valid work permit”
    • Elsewhere in the article“A migrant worker without a valid work permit is harassed by her colleague”
    • Elsewhere in the article“Hotel manager Erin Ong did not have a permit to work”

    Show it in the article

    Written straight

    Workers without a valid work permit can still bring harassment claims at tribunal, equality watchdog guidance says.

  2. Tells the event as something else

    Serious

    “A man wearing an England football top clambers to board a taxi boat at Gravelines in northern France, before attempting to cross the English Channel”

    Why this matters
    This picture caption puts a Channel crossing from Gravelines into a story about workplace harassment guidance.
    The impression it gives
    That the people this guidance concerns are the people crossing the Channel in boats.
    The context
    Nothing in the guidance or in the tribunal case the article reports involves a Channel crossing. The worker in the real case is a Malaysian hotel manager in Cumbria.

    How we know

    • Elsewhere in the article“a Malaysian migrant with no legal right to work in the UK”

    Show it in the article

    Written straight

    New EHRC guidance says a worker whose contract is illegal because they lack a work permit can still bring a harassment claim, giving the example of a woman harassed by a colleague.

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