Companies will be legally required to take steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace due to the the implementation of a new legislation in Australia. These restrictions are scheduled to take effect this week.
Using this newly-established jurisdiction, the Australian Human Rights Commission will be able to conduct investigations into companies and employers in order to determine whether or not they are taking preventative measures to make workplaces safer.
The groundbreaking Respect@Work report, which was given by Kate Jenkins, the former Sex Discrimination Commissioner, said that these new rules, which became law the previous year, should be put into place. Mark Dreyfus, the Attorney General, says that the changes will be made to stop sexual harassment in the workplace, rather than making companies deal with cases of sexual harassment that have already happened.
He said that this shifts the responsibility away from employees enforcing their right to a safe and inclusive workplace. Instead places the responsibility on employers to ensure that the workplace is safe and inclusive for everyone. All workers should feel safe and welcome at work, and there should be no harassment, discrimination, or other illegal behaviour any where they work.
At this point, the Human Rights Commission will be able to exercise its authority to regulate the manner in which organisations that might not be meeting their commitments to prevent sexual harassment. For enterprises that have failed to meet the criteria, the commission will also have the ability to issue compliance notifications or initiate court applications in order to compel them to comply with the regulations.
According to The Senior, the most recent national study on sexual harassment indicated that one-third of those who had been employed in the previous five years had encountered sexual harassment at work. This new action comes as a result of the findings of the poll.
According to Dreyfus, who came to the conclusion that “the new role of the Australian Human Rights Commission will be a positive step towards ensuring safe, inclusive, and respectful workplaces for all employees,” the commission would be paid AU$5.8 million (US$3.82 million) over the course of four years in order to carry out the enforcement task.
