Creating a workplace culture where sexual harassment is allowed or encouraged would be against the law under an overhaul recommended by the sex discrimination commissioner.
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As well as making sexual harassment itself expressly prohibited in legislation, Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins has handed down a landmark report calling for new powers for her office, a Workplace Sexual Harassment Council and the ability to dismiss a worker for sexual harassment under the Fair Work Act.
Running for more than 900 pages, the report said the current system for dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace was "complex and confusing" for victims and employers and puts too much burden on victims to make a complaint.
A third of workers had experienced sexual harassment in the last five years, the report found, with women more likely than men to be victims of harassment. People in male-dominated industries and workers who are young, Indigenous, culturally and linguistically diverse or part of the LGBTI community were more likely to experience sexual harassment at work.
Ms Jenkins said action on sexual harassment needed to move to positive actions around prevention, instead of the current "reactive, complaints based approach".
The council would be chaired by the commissioner and would be funded to "improve coordination, consistency and clarity across the key legal and regulatory frameworks, to improve prevention and response to sexual harassment".
Research by Deloitte as part of the report estimated the total cost of workplace sexual harassment at $3.8 billion, mostly through lost productivity. The figure was a "conservative estimate," the report said.
As part of the move to prevention, Ms Jenkins said called for a "positive duty" for employers "to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate sex discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation, as far as possible".
People who aid or permit another person to sexually harass another person in the workplace could also be found liable, under the sweeping recommendations.
The proposed council would be given the power to enforce compliance with the duty.
"The current legal and regulatory system is simply no longer fit for purpose," Ms Jenkins said.
"In this report, I have recommended a new model that improves the coordination, consistency and clarity between the anti-discrimination, employment and work health and safety legislative schemes."
Sally Whyte
I report on a range of issues in federal politics and the public service, with a real passion for how decisions made in Canberra affect the lives of Australians.
I report on a range of issues in federal politics and the public service, with a real passion for how decisions made in Canberra affect the lives of Australians.
