From 12 December, the Australian Human Rights Commission will have powers to enforce employers compliance with their positive duty to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace.
The Commission has set out seven standards that outline what the Commission expects employers to have done in order to satisfy their positive duty under the Sex Discrimination Act. This duty requires employers to take ‘reasonable and proportionate measures’ to eliminate relevant unlawful conduct as far as possible. This includes conduct such as discrimination on the ground of sex in a work context, sexual harassment in connection with work, sex-based harassment.
The standards relate to the following areas:
1 – Leadership
2 – Culture
3 – Knowledge
4 – Risk Management
5 – Support
6 – Reporting and Response
7 – Monitoring, evaluation and transparency
Importantly, this duty relates to all employers including small businesses and the Commission is able to commence an inquiry where they have a reasonable suspicion of non-compliance. They are not limited to responding to a complaint. The seven standards are intended to provide a framework for employers to implement to support the prevention and response to sexual harassment in the workplace. It is therefore not good enough for employers to implement a few token initiatives against sexual harassment in order to be compliant.
If you need help to implement this framework or reviewing your existing framework, don’t hesitate to reach out to Gateway HRM for assistance.
