Australian employers are now legally bound to a “positive duty” to proactively eliminate sexual discrimination and harassment in the workplace, a significant shift from the previous reactive approach. This new legal obligation requires businesses to take “reasonable and proportionate measures” to prevent such conduct, including sexual harassment, sex-based harassment, and creating a hostile work environment on the basis of sex. The move comes as research, such as a recent study from the University of Sydney and the Australian National University, continues to highlight the prevalence of the issue, finding that one in five retail workers has experienced sexual harassment in the past five years. Now, with the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) empowered to monitor and enforce compliance, employers must take a proactive, risk-management approach to address this pervasive problem.
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