New workplace Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment Code of Practice

Employers will now have access to long-awaited guidelines on how best to safeguard their people against sexual and gender-based harassment in the workplace. On 5 March 2025, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Murray Watt, approved the Work Health and Safety (Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment) Code of Practice 2025 (Code), officially implementing recommendation 35 of the 2020 Respect@Work report.

The Code is intended to be read in combination with the more general Work Health and Safety (Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work) Code of Practice 2024, which was created in October 2024. According to the Minister, the Code aims to assist duty holders, such as employers, to ensure workers and others are not exposed to risks to their psychological or physical health and safety.

What is sexual and gender-based harassment?

The Code addresses a range of harassment and behaviours based on gender that create a risk of harm at work, including sexual harassment, sex-based or gender-based harassment and discrimination, hostile working environments on the grounds of sex, and gendered violence.

Sexual and gender-based harassment can be a one-off incident or repeated behaviour, and the most serious acts, such as sexual assault, may amount to criminal offences.

Sexual and gender-based harassment can cause physical and psychological harm to people directly targeted and also to anyone witnessing the behaviour. This can also lead to significant social and economic costs for workers, employers and the wider community.

What does the Code of Practice mean for employers?

The new Code will provide practical guidance for employers (and anyone with a duty of care in the relevant circumstances) on how to achieve the standards of work health and safety required under the applicable work health and safety legislation.

More specifically, the Code also provides guidance for employers in relation to:

• the relevant work health and safety duties relating to sexual and gender-based harassment;
• applicable risk management processes;
• how to identify sexual and gender-based harassment;
• how to assess and control the risks it creates;
• direction as to how employers can investigate and respond to reports; and
• the role of leadership and culture in the context of sexual and gender-based harassment.

Courts may have regard to the Code as evidence of what is known about a hazard, risk, risk assessment or risk control and may rely on the Code in determining what is reasonably practicable in the circumstances to which the Code relates. Inspectors may also refer to the Code when issuing improvement or prohibition notices.

How can we help?

If you have any questions or require further information in relation to the Code, please contact our Employment, Safety and Migration lawyers at Macpherson Kelley.

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.