What would a ‘positive duty’ to prevent sexual discrimination in workplaces look like?

One of the key recommendations the government ignored from the landmark Respect@Work report – a positive duty clause – could have gone a long way to preventing workplace sexual harassment. Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins told a panel at the National Summit on Women’s Safety the other week that she’s “not giving up” on having all 55 recommendations made in her landmark Respect@Work report implemented. Of the 16 legislative and regulatory reforms that could have been adopted – with 12 separate legal amendments possible – just six made it into the final Respect at Work Amendment Bill passed the other week. Notably missing was a “positive duty” clause, where employers would have a legal obligation to prevent sexual discrimination. But what would this positive duty look like – and how could it be implemented? What’s missing?  The Respect@Work report recommended the Sex Discrimination Act be amended to force all employers, taking into consideration business’ resources, size, and circumstance, “to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate sex discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation, as far as possible”. The report also recommended the Human Rights Commission be given powers to assess employers’ compliance to this duty. A positive duty already exists under workplace health and safety law but doesn’t