Thursday 13th November 2008
Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, today released a document
“Effectively preventing and responding to sexual harassment: A Code of Practice for employers”.
The Commissioner also released an associated quick guide for employers as “tools for employers
that could be used to identify inappropriate behaviours and to assist them in taking preventative
steps”. Both the Code of Practice and the Quick Guide can be downloaded from the Australian
Human Rights Commission website at:
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/sexualharassment/employers_code
The Code of Practice states “Every employer, regardless of size, must take all reasonable steps
to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace to avoid liability. This means that employers must
actively implement precautionary measures to minimise the risk of sexual harassment occurring
and to respond appropriately when harassment does occur.”
The Australian Human Rights Commission National Telephone Survey
The Commissioner said that the Australian Human Rights Commission’s recent Sexual
Harassment National Telephone Survey found that 22 per cent of women and 5 per cent of men
have experienced sexual harassment in Australian workplaces. The survey found that, of the
respondents who said they had not experienced sexual harassment according to the legal
definition, when presented with examples of behaviours that are considered to be sexual
harassment, one in five said they had experienced one or more of them.
Managing the risk
Stress claims resulting from physiological injury associated with workplace harassment are
extremely costly. The NOHS Compendium of Workers’ Compensation Statistics for 2004-2005
cited the average time lost due to stress claims caused by harassment to be 11 weeks.
The Code of Practice gives 5 steps to prevent sexual harassment:
Get high-level management support;
Write and implement a sexual harassment policy;
Provide regular training and information on sexual harassment to all staff and management;
Encourage appropriate conduct by managers;
Create a positive workplace environment.
The Practice Code states that employers should conduct regular training sessions for all staff and
management on sexual harassment and organisational policy. This training should be
behavioural based which means it should increase knowledge and understanding of specific
behaviours that may amount to sexual harassment under the Sex Discrimination Act. Regular
refresher training is recommended and so is training all line managers on their role in ensuring
that the workplace is free from sexual harassment.
The Practice Code also recommends that medium and large employers undertake regular audits
to monitor the incidence of sexual harassment in their workplaces and the use and effectiveness
of their complaints procedures.
Similar risk management strategies should be developed for all forms of workplace harassment
including bullying.
Please contact iHR Australia about its cutting edge Behavioural Based Training, Survey Tools or
Investigation Services on 03 9854 0000.
Disclaimer: iHR takes no responsibility for actions taken by organizations on the basis of information contained on this website. This information is provided free of charge to organizations that have agreed to receive links to this content.
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