Victimisation
Recommendation 21: Amend the Australian Human Rights Commission Act to make
explicit that any conduct that is an offence under section 94 of the Sex Discrimination
Act can form the basis of a civil action for unlawful discrimination.
Timeframe as a ground on which the President can terminate an accepted complaint
Recommendation 22: Amend the Australian Human Rights Commission Act so that the
President’s discretion to terminate a complaint under the Sex Discrimination Act on the
grounds of time does not arise until it has been 24 months since the alleged unlawful
discrimination took place.
Representative and/or collective claims
Recommendation 23: Amend the Australian Human Rights Commission Act to allow
unions and other representative groups to bring representative claims to court,
consistent with the existing provisions in the Australian Human Rights Commission Act
that allow unions and other representative groups to bring a representative complaint
to the Commission.
Damages and costs
Recommendation 24: The Australian Government conduct further research on damages
in sexual harassment matters and whether this reflects contemporary understandings
of the nature, drivers, harms and impacts of sexual harassment. This research should
inform judicial education and training.
Recommendation 25: Amend the Australian Human Rights Commission Act to insert
a cost protection provision consistent with section 570 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).
Consistency of sexual harassment laws
Recommendation 26: The Australian Government work with state and territory
governments, through the Council of Australian Governments or another appropriate
forum, to amend state and territory human rights and anti-discrimination legislation
with the objective of achieving consistency, where possible, with the Sex Discrimination
Act, without limiting or reducing protections.
Respect@Work:
Everyone’s
National business:
Inquiry into
National
SexualWorkplace
Harassment
Sexual
in Australian
Harassment
Workplaces
Inquiry • 2019
2020 • 45