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Harassment is inappropriate and unreasonable behaviour which can involve physical, verbal and visual conduct including:
It is unlawful to harass a person because of their race. Race includes colour, descent, ethnic or national origin, or nationality and may comprise two or more distinct races. Racial harassment may take many forms including threats, abuse, insults and taunts based on a person’s race or a characteristic belonging to, or generally believed to belong to, a particular race.
Gendered violence at work is any behaviour, directed at a person or that affects a person, because of their sex, gender or sexual orientation, or because they do not adhere to socially prescribed gender roles, that creates a risk to health and safety.
This can include sexual harassment and assault.
Sexual harassment includes any unwanted or inappropriate sexual behaviour. It does not need to be repeated, meaning it can happen once and still not be okay. Sexual harassment can be many things, including:
The Respect@Work: Sexual Harassment National Inquiry Report published by the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2020 identified trends in relation to the prevalence of sexual harassment in Australian workplaces; it is estimated that around one third of people reported exposure to workplace sexual harassment in the previous five years.
The Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Act 2022 (Cth) amended the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), introducing a positive duty on PCBUs to eliminate:
New regulatory powers have been conferred on the Australian Human Rights Commission to investigate and enforce compliance with the positive duty.
Everyone at a workplace is potentially at risk of being subjected to inappropriate or unreasonable behaviour. However, some groups may be more at risk and these can include:
Harassment can create a hostile work environment that may impact upon others in the workplace and can become a hazard under the WHS Act when it has the potential to create a risk to health and safety.
The severity of the impact of harassment can vary lead to a number of significant physical and psychological outcomes for affected people, including:
Where harassment involves physical conduct perpetrated by a client or member of the public, see the Violence and aggression at work: Code of practice for more information.
Everyone in the workplace has a duty to manage hazards and risks to worker physical and psychological health and safety. These duties are set out in the WHS Act. A workplace where mental health and wellbeing is a priority benefits everyone.
A PCBU has the primary duty of care under the WHS Act to ensure that workers and other people are not exposed to health and safety risks arising from work carried out. This duty includes:
Workers, including managers and supervisors, should be aware of their roles in relation to preventing and responding to inappropriate or unreasonable workplace behaviour and have the appropriate skills to take action where necessary.
Training should cover:
As a worker, you must take reasonable care for your own health and safety and not adversely affect the health and safety of others. You must comply with reasonable instructions and cooperate with reasonable health and safety policies or procedures.
See Workers and others duties for more information.
If you are sexually harassed at work there are a number of things you can do, on your own, or with help from others. For example:
See Respect@Work for more information.
It is a requirement under the WHS legislation to manage risks to worker health and safety, including psychological health and safety. See the codes of practice on Workplace behaviour and Psychosocial hazards in the workplace for guidance.
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