Respect at Work Amendment Act 2022 - implications and future possibilities (March 2023)
Webinar presented by:
Emerita Professor Margaret Thornton (Australian National University), Melanie Schleiger (Victoria Legal Aid) and Professor Beth Gaze (University of Melbourne)
Thursday 2 March 2023
About the event
In late 2022, the Federal Parliament passed the Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Act 2022 (Cth). The Act implements recommendations from the Respect@Work: National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces, including to introduce a positive duty in the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) that requires employers to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate certain forms of unlawful sex discrimination, including sexual harassment, as far as possible. But the Amendment Act also goes further, to extend time limits for making complaints across all protected grounds. In this seminar, leading experts considered the implications, missed opportunities and possible future developments stemming from the Act. In particular, the panelists reflected on provisions relating to costs - omitted from the final Act, but currently under review by the Attorney-General's Department.
About the speakers
Margaret Thornton is Emerita Professor of Law and ANU Public Policy Fellow at the Australian National University. She has researched and published extensively on issues relating to discrimination law and feminist legal theory. She recently undertook a consultancy, with Kieran Pender and Madeleine Castles, for the Respect@Work Secretariat of the Attorney-General’s Department on Damages and Costs in Sexual Harassment Litigation.
Melanie Schleiger is a discrimination and human rights lawyer with over 15 years of experience, spanning commercial law, international law and the legal assistance sector. Melanie leads Victoria Legal Aid's specialist discrimination law service, the Equality Law Program. She holds a Masters of Law and has published various articles and educational materials on human rights and anti-discrimination law, with a particular focus on sexual harassment law. Melanie also has also advised on organisational responses to sexual harassment and was a Senior Advisor on Dr Helen Szoke’s Independent Review of Sexual Harassment in Victorian Courts and VCAT.
Beth Gaze is a Professor at Melbourne Law School. Her research interests are in anti-discrimination and equality law, feminist legal thought, administrative law including tribunals, and socio-legal research including empirical research. She has held several ARC grants, and has conducted empirical research into the enforcement process under Australian federal anti-discrimination law, the experiences of applicants in the social security appeal tribunals, and the operation of the adverse action provisions of the Fair Work Act. She has been a member of several state and federal tribunals, a consultant to the Victorian Parliament and the International Labour Organisation, and has participated in law reform processes and committees at state and federal levels.