Australian employers are now legally bound to prevent sexual harassment at work

Employers now have a legal responsibility to take steps in order to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.

New laws, in effect from Tuesday, will see the Australian Human Rights Commission able to investigate companies and employers on whether proactive steps are being taken place to make workplaces safer.

The new measures, which passed into law last year, were one of the recommendations of the landmark Respect@Work report handed down by former sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins.

In a statement, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the changes would seek to prevent sexual harassment from occurring in the workplace, rather than have workplaces react to it taking place.

“This shifts the responsibility away from individual employees enforcing their right to a safe and inclusive workplace, to employers to ensure the workplace is safe and inclusive for all employees,” he said.

“All workplaces should be safe, inclusive and free from harassment, discrimination and other unlawful behaviours.”

The Human Rights Commission will have regulatory powers to look into companies that may not be meeting obligations to act to prevent sexual harassment.

The commission will also be able to issue compliance notices or make a court application to force compliance or businesses that have failed to meet the criteria.

It comes as the latest national survey on sexual harassment found one-third of people who had been employed in the past five years had experienced sexual harassment at work.

Dreyfus said the commission would be given $5.8 million over four years to carry out the enforcement work.

“The new role of the Australian Human Rights Commission will be a positive step towards ensuring safe, inclusive and respectful workplaces for all employees,” he said.

This article was first published by AAP.