Harassment

Harassment is inappropriate and unreasonable behaviour which can involve physical, verbal and visual conduct including:

material that is displayed in the workplace, for example, on a noticeboard
material put on a computer, sent by email, SMS or put on a website, blog or on social networking
verbal abuse or derogatory comments
intrusive personal questions
offensive jokes or comments
offensive gestures
initiation ceremonies that involve unwelcome and unsafe behaviour

Racial harassment
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
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
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:
- touching, hugging or kissing that you didn’t ask for
- staring at someone or at parts of their body
- sexual comments or jokes
- insults based on someone’s gender or sex
- sexual images, emails or text messages
- inappropriate questions about a person’s private life or body
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:
- workplace sexual harassment, sex discrimination and sex-based harassment
- conduct that amounts to subjecting a person to a hostile workplace environment on the ground of sex
- and, certain acts of victimisation.
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:
- young workers
- lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and asexual (LGBTIQA+) workers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander workers
- workers with a disability
- culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) workers
- migrant workers or workers holding temporary visas
- people in insecure working arrangements.
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:
- psychological injuries including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- physiological health affects (e.g. sleep, appetite, muscular tension)
- feelings of isolation, social isolation or family dislocation
- loss of confidence and withdrawal
- suicidal thoughts.
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.

Work health and safety duties

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:
- providing and maintaining a work environment that is without risks to health and safety
- providing and maintaining safe systems of work
- monitoring the health and safety of workers and the conditions at the workplace to ensure that work related illnesses and injuries are prevented
- providing appropriate information, instruction, training or supervision to workers and other persons at the workplace to allow work to be carried out safely.
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:
- awareness of the impact certain behaviours can have on others
- the work health and safety duties and responsibilities relating to workplace behaviour
- measures used to prevent inappropriate or unreasonable behaviour from occurring
- how individuals can respond to inappropriate or unreasonable behaviour
- how to report inappropriate or unreasonable behaviour
- how reports will be responded to, including timeframes.
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:
- Remove yourself from the situation by logging off your device, hanging up the phone, or walking away.
- Call the police on 000 if you feel unsafe. You can also call the 24/7 Police Assistance Line on 131 444 to report a crime.
- Ask for help from your co-workers, manager, friends, or family members.
- Seek professional help from a counselling service or helpline.
- Keep a record of what happened, when and where it happened, who was involved and anything else you think may be important, in case you wish to make a complaint or report (now or at a later date). If the harassment occurred on the phone or social media, consider taking screenshots as evidence of the harassment.
- Ask for advice about your workplace rights: There are government and non-government organisations that can provide you with free advice about workplace sexual harassment, including your options for making a complaint. For more information, see ‘Services that can provide advice ’.
- Make an internal complaint or report to management or human resources (as outlined in your workplace’s relevant policy or procedure, if they have one).
- Make a complaint or report to a government agency: There are independent organisations that can accept complaints of workplace sexual harassment, such as the Australian Human Rights Commission or your state or territory’s human rights/anti-discrimination agency. For more information see ‘Reporting workplace sexual harassment’.
- Apply for a ‘stop sexual harassment’ order from the Fair Work Commission if you think the workplace harassment is likely to continue and you are still in the same workplace. The Commission can order that the sexual harassment at work stop, an apology be made or that support or training in the workplace is provided.
See Respect@Work for more information.

Manage risks

It is a requirement under the WHS legislation to manage risks to worker health and safety, including psychological health and safety.

Racial harassment

Gendered violence

Sexual harassment

Work health and safety duties

Manage risks

Further support

Acknowledgement of Country

Harassment

Work health and safety duties

Manage risks

Share

Acknowledgement of Country