Leading companies waive goodbye to secrecy for sexual harassment complainants

Kate Jenkins, Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner, is currently leading the National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces.

The National Inquiry aims to examine the experiences of workplace sexual harassment (see our related article) and the effectiveness of the current legal framework, among other things.

To help achieve this, the Commissioner has called for all employers to voluntarily and publicly waive their right to enforce existing confidentiality agreements, on a limited basis, which preserves the conversation surrounding sexual harassment.

The recommended waiver would allow parties to confidentiality agreements, which were entered as part of sexual harassment dispute settlements, to make contributions to the Inquiry by sharing their views.

To date, the following prominent companies have agreed to participate in the limited confidentiality waiver scheme:

• Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ);
• Australian National University;
• BHP;
• CBH Group;
• Clayton Utz;
• Commonwealth Bank of Australia;
• Georgiou Group Pty Ltd;
• KPMG;
• Macquarie University;
• Medibank;
• NSW Government Sector;
• Queensland Public Service;
• Rio Tinto; and
• Telstra

If you are interested in learning more about the limited waiver and its potential effects on your business, please contact the Macpherson Kelley Employment, Safety and Migration Team.

This article was written by Cinzia Pietrolungo, Lawyer – Employment, Safety and Migration.