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There’s a renewed drive to stamp out sexual assault and harassment in Australian workplaces, putting employers and employees on notice that such behaviour will not be tolerated.
Sadly, all of these have been long in the making and given what has been revealed by the Australian Human Rights Commission in its “Respect@Work: Sexual Harassment National Inquiry Report (2020) (Report)” are much needed areas for balanced reform.
What do I mean? Well the Report found that, despite workplace sexual harassment being unlawful under various Federal and State discrimination laws, it remains “prevalent and pervasive”. That means there is a need to take a tougher stance on eliminating and minimising this behaviour in the workplace.
It is just a matter of time before a workplace in Australia takes the dubious honour of being the first employer prosecuted for failing to eliminate or minimise such risks as reasonably practical in accordance with most work health and safety legislative regimes across the country.
This is the moment for employers to step up and confront this problem head on and in doing so, help not only the thousands of women and men, (yes it’s not just a “woman issue” in our workplaces) but to also help themselves avoid the legal, reputational and financial risks that allowing such behaviour to exist brings with it.
I’m a father of two beautiful seriously clever young girls who are my whole world.
I was raised to respect people. I am however human and not perfect, just like everyone else.
I want my girls to enter the workforce and to be as safe as reasonably practicable. I don’t expect to see them wrapped in cotton wool. The world does not work that way.
We need a balanced and carefully considered system with appropriate processes (checks and balances) to protect those confronted by sexual harassment or bullying as well as those on the receiving end of such complaints.
Given that women are more likely to be impacted, we must remember that every woman in the workforce is somebody’s daughter, sister, wife, mother and a human being entitled to be treated with dignity and respect.
We should all want this, right?
Employers, this is your call to arms. It is imperative that you:
Quite separately, if your workplace and its leadership are serious about addressing this issue, they need to know that ally is a verb, look it up.
While the SWA Guide characterises sexual harassment as a workplace hazard, if you didn’t already know, health is defined in the modernised legislative regime as including psychological well-being.
Short point, risks to health and safety can be either physical or psychological in origin.
Persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) have a duty to eliminate or minimise such risks so far as is reasonably practicable.
The Guide sets out a useful summary on how to take a risk management approach to managing such.
That said, without real leadership from the top down, no system can ever be effective.
We need to think critically about what we understand the “workplace” to be.
It is typically in a WHS context defined to mean a place where work is carried out, including any place where a worker goes, or is likely to be, while at work.
Straight away when we consider the enormous impact of technology, we can see that:
This list is not exhaustive and there are many other key cultural aspects that we all know need to be assessed and considered.
Familiarise yourself with the Guide and adopt it or practices and procedures that are equivalent or better than those identified and that way you will be entirely unlikely to ever need to find my email address or telephone number.
If you need tailored and commercially focused advice to meet your business needs in this area, please contact our employment safety and migration team.
The information contained in this article is general in nature and cannot be relied on as legal advice nor does it create an engagement. Please contact one of our lawyers listed above for advice about your specific situation.
There’s a renewed drive to stamp out sexual assault and harassment in Australian workplaces, putting employers and employees on notice that such behaviour will not be tolerated.
Sadly, all of these have been long in the making and given what has been revealed by the Australian Human Rights Commission in its “Respect@Work: Sexual Harassment National Inquiry Report (2020) (Report)” are much needed areas for balanced reform.
What do I mean? Well the Report found that, despite workplace sexual harassment being unlawful under various Federal and State discrimination laws, it remains “prevalent and pervasive”. That means there is a need to take a tougher stance on eliminating and minimising this behaviour in the workplace.
It is just a matter of time before a workplace in Australia takes the dubious honour of being the first employer prosecuted for failing to eliminate or minimise such risks as reasonably practical in accordance with most work health and safety legislative regimes across the country.
This is the moment for employers to step up and confront this problem head on and in doing so, help not only the thousands of women and men, (yes it’s not just a “woman issue” in our workplaces) but to also help themselves avoid the legal, reputational and financial risks that allowing such behaviour to exist brings with it.
I’m a father of two beautiful seriously clever young girls who are my whole world.
I was raised to respect people. I am however human and not perfect, just like everyone else.
I want my girls to enter the workforce and to be as safe as reasonably practicable. I don’t expect to see them wrapped in cotton wool. The world does not work that way.
We need a balanced and carefully considered system with appropriate processes (checks and balances) to protect those confronted by sexual harassment or bullying as well as those on the receiving end of such complaints.
Given that women are more likely to be impacted, we must remember that every woman in the workforce is somebody’s daughter, sister, wife, mother and a human being entitled to be treated with dignity and respect.
We should all want this, right?
Employers, this is your call to arms. It is imperative that you:
Quite separately, if your workplace and its leadership are serious about addressing this issue, they need to know that ally is a verb, look it up.
While the SWA Guide characterises sexual harassment as a workplace hazard, if you didn’t already know, health is defined in the modernised legislative regime as including psychological well-being.
Short point, risks to health and safety can be either physical or psychological in origin.
Persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) have a duty to eliminate or minimise such risks so far as is reasonably practicable.
The Guide sets out a useful summary on how to take a risk management approach to managing such.
That said, without real leadership from the top down, no system can ever be effective.
We need to think critically about what we understand the “workplace” to be.
It is typically in a WHS context defined to mean a place where work is carried out, including any place where a worker goes, or is likely to be, while at work.
Straight away when we consider the enormous impact of technology, we can see that:
This list is not exhaustive and there are many other key cultural aspects that we all know need to be assessed and considered.
Familiarise yourself with the Guide and adopt it or practices and procedures that are equivalent or better than those identified and that way you will be entirely unlikely to ever need to find my email address or telephone number.
If you need tailored and commercially focused advice to meet your business needs in this area, please contact our employment safety and migration team.