Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment is:

• any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favours or behaviour of a sexual nature
• that makes a person feel offended, humiliated or intimidated
• that a reasonable person in the circumstances would anticipate the possibility that the person would feel offended, humiliated or intimidated.

It can be a one-off incident or repeated behaviour.

You can experience sexual harassment from your supervisor, colleague or manager. It can also come from customers, clients, visitors or other third parties.

Examples of sexual harassment include:

• unwelcome touching, hugging or kissing
• staring or leering
• sexually suggestive comments and jokes 
• referring to co-workers using suggestive or sexualised names
• unwanted invitations to go out on dates
• requests for sex
• intrusive questions about a person’s private life or body 
• sexually explicit emails or text messages
• a hostile workplace environment.

Some forms of sexual harassment, such as sexual assault or physical assault, are also a criminal offence. Sexual harassment of a child worker may constitute the offence of child sexual abuse. If your child is under 18 years and has experienced sexual harassment at work, you should speak to the police or a lawyer.

Sexual harassment is also a form of unlawful sex discrimination.

For more information, see Discrimination at work.

Your employers legal obligations

Your employer has a duty of care towards you and other workers to ensure your health and safety while you are at work.

Your employer must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that you and other workers are not exposed to risks to your psychological or physical health in the workplace. This includes risks of harm from sexual harassment. Where it is reasonably practicable, your employer must eliminate health and safety risks at work. If this is not possible, these risks must be minimised so far as is reasonably practicable.

Your employer also has a duty to prevent sexual harassment under Sex Discrimination laws. Under this duty, your employer must take reasonable and proportional steps to eliminate discrimination in the workplace, including:

• sex discrimination
• sexual harassment
• sex-based harassment
• conduct that amounts to subjecting a person to a hostile work environment on the grounds of sex.

Your employer could be liable for conduct involving sexual harassment if they have not taken enough steps to prevent this from happening.

A court would consider:

• the seriousness of the conduct
• whether it was continuous or repetitive
• the role, influence or authority of the person engaging in the conduct.  

If your employer doesn’t take all necessary steps to prevent bullying and sexual harassment in the workplace, they may be breaching Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws.

For more information, see Understand your work health and safety responsibilities on the NSW Government website.

Taking action against sexual harassment

Sexual harassment is against the law. If you are experiencing sexual harassment, you may be able to:

• speak to someone at your workplace that you feel comfortable with about the issue
• apply to the Fair Work Commission for an order to stop the behaviour
• complain to SafeWork NSW
• complain to Anti-Discrimination New South Wales
• complain to the Fair Work Ombudsman
• report the issue to police, if you have experienced serious sexual harassment or sexual assault
• speak to your GP or counsellor
• apply for workers compensation
• make an insurance claim.

For more information, see Taking action against sexual harassment.