Taskforce co-chair Liberty Sanger,a lawyer at Maurice Blackburn,said non-disclosure agreements could cause further harm for victims prevented from speaking out.
Victoria’s peak employer association,Ai Group,and the Law Institute of Victoria welcomed the proposed changes but said the confidentiality of victims must be protected.
Ai Group head Tim Piper said changes needed to be nuanced.
“In some circumstances,NDAs are a positive thing,” he said.
Law Institute president Tania Wolff said the agreements had in the past been used to protect perpetrators and hampered efforts to eradicate sexual harassment.
“However,the changes ... need to look at how to preserve the confidentiality of victims because not every victim has the same desires as another in terms of the outcome they’re trying to achieve,” she said.
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WorkSafe will also be given $7 million over the next three years to treat work-related gendered violence and workplace sexual harassment as an occupational health and safety issue. Employers will be required to de-identify and report to WorkSafe sexual harassment incidents in their
workplace.
The government did not back a recommendation that would have allowed unions to mount civil cases,including group claims,where businesses had failed to provide workplaces free from harassment.
Victorian Trades Hall Council assistant secretary Wil Stracke said sexual harassment was more likely to thrive in environments where there was a significant gender imbalance.
“[Expanding] the OHS[occupational health and safety] laws obligates an employer to create a safe workplace and take preventative measures to manage risks,rather than ... relying on individual women to put their hand up and say something,” she said.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said he wanted to work with the government constructively and sensibly but noted the reforms should be led by victims.
“In certain circumstances,winding back an NDA may not be the best for victims,” Guy said. “We don’t want to discourage a victim from coming forward. We want to make sure they’re comfortable in putting forward their complaint.”
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