Healthcare Report: Sexual Harassment and Legislative Requirements

This report delves into the critical issue of sexual harassment within the Australian hospitality industry, recognizing it as a significant workplace health hazard. The introduction differentiates between health and safety hazards, emphasizing the often-overlooked impact of health hazards like sexual harassment. The report defines sexual harassment, highlighting its prevalence in the industry, with statistics indicating a high percentage of workers experiencing such incidents. It explores the adverse effects on employee mental health, including stress, anxiety, and reduced productivity, and identifies contributing factors such as shift timings, the serving of liquor, and the environment of bars, nightclubs, and hotels. Furthermore, the report examines the legislative requirements, including the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth), the Australian Human Rights Commission, and the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, as well as relevant international guidelines from the International Labour Organization. It also discusses standard industrial practices, such as the development of sexual harassment policies, training programs, and internal reviews. The conclusion stresses the importance of addressing health hazards like sexual harassment, emphasizing the need for employers to take proactive steps to protect employee well-being and working performance.

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Introduction
The health of workers is an important aspect of every organization. During the
performance of the job, a worker may come across many risk and hazards. Here this is necessary
to state that there is a difference between health and safety hazards. The lead difference between
the two is that safety hazards are immediate and sudden. Such incidents affect workers all of
sudden and by eliminating such hazards, an organization may protect the majority of its workers.
On the other side, health hazards are hard to access and the same affect different people in a
different manner. These hazards may have a delayed impact on the health of employees. Many of
the times, it has been noted that organizations do not put much focus on health hazards, which
creates an issue. Different organizations have a different type of health risk that may differ
according to the nature of activities. For the preparation of this report, the hospitality industry of
Australia has been selected as industry and the health hazard selected is sexual harassment. The
objective of this report is to understand the subjective issue in the context of the hospitality
industry, and the legislation related thereto. Further, the industrial practices relating to the
elimination of this hazard will also be discussed.
Sexual Harassment
Firstly, the meaning of sexual harassment is necessary to understand. In order to answer this
question, this is to state that sexual harassment can be understood as a form of any unwelcome
sexual behavior which is intimidating, offensive and humiliating for the victim
(Au.reachout.com, 2019). Sexual harassment includes the following:-
 Touching and grabbing

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 Making sexual comments
 Making sexual gestures
 Cracking sexual jokes
 Displaying sexual content
In the hospitality industry of Australia, sexual harassment is an emerging health hazard.
According to preliminary research collected from workers of this industry, it has been found that
around 89% of the workers have experienced one or more incidents of sexual harassment in their
working lives. Half of such workers agreed that their experience of sexual harassment made
them feel unsafe at work (Topping, 2018). On a daily basis, workers make complaints regarding
this issue in different organizations. Sexual harassment comes under the category of health
hazards as workers/employees feel depressed, stressed, or anxious. This may cause harm in many
of the ways. Workers start feeling isolated, self-esteemed, and less productive. All these factors
reduce the confidence level of employees, which affect their mental health in a negative manner.
The lead reason for sexual harassment in the chosen industry is the odd shift timings of
workers. In addition to this, employees are often required to serve liquor and it makes the
atmosphere more noisy and festive. This is the reason that employees often face abusive
behavior from the side of customers. Further, according to the proof presented by The Guardian,
a quarter amount of total sexual harassment have done by managers. The environments of this
industry have bars, nightclubs, and hotels and this gives the belief that sexual advances are
norms. In conjunction with this, female workers are considered as a mean of attraction and
entertainment and they are required to wear the uniform of a particular fashion
(Barandrestaurantcoach.com, 2019). Such uniforms are an often-short dress that provokes sexual

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action of other staff members as well as of customers and this is the reason that in comparison to
other industries, the hospitality industry has more risk of sexual harassment.
Legislative Requirements
As mentioned above, sexual harassment comes under the category of workplace hazard,
certain legislative requirements are there that organizations are required to fulfill in this context.
Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) is the lead legislation of Australia that provides a
framework to ensure the safety and health of all the workers In Australia. Not only to workers
but this act also provide protection to others who may get affect by the work. This act provides
many provisions related to the work and safety of employees at the workplace, such as
representation and participation. According to the objectives and other provisions of this act
employers are In addition to this, the act also provides provisions related to general risk and
workplace management. Further, the Australian Human Rights Commission is there which
provides provisions on the issue of sexual harassment. The commission provides sexual
harassment information for the employer as well as for the employee. The same states the
manner in which a worker can make a complaint regarding sexual harassment to commission
(Humanrights.gov.au, 2019). Further, this commission also released a code of practice for
employers to deal with the selected issue. In addition to the above, the Sex Discrimination Act
1984 is there for the help of workers. Division 3 of this act is based on sexual harassment only.
Section 106 of the act put vicarious liability on the employer. According to this section an
employer held liable for sexual harassment if an employee commits sexual harassment and
employer did not take necessary action to prevent him/her. Work Health and Safety Act 2011
(Cth) is applicable across Australia since it is a federal act but in addition to this, states also have
their own laws on this topic. For instance in the New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Act 1977

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(NSW) prohibits sexual harassment at the workplace. It means the employers of New South
Wales are required to comply with the provisions of this act in addition to the provisions of the
federal act. Section 22B of NSW act prohibits sexual harassment at the workplace. If an
employee faces any incidents related to physical harassment, the same can raise this issue and
make the complaint to in house authority. If no in-house authority is there than employees may
make a complaint to the human right commission.
If to talk about the international legal requirement in respect to sexual harassment at
workplace issue this is to state, that international labor organization has provided a code of
conduct and guideline to address and prevent sexual harassment at workplaces. According to
these guidelines, organizations are required to make a commitment to employees to provide an
environment, which is free from harassment. In addition to this, employers have to create
awareness among employees and other stakeholders related to sexual harassment and other
relevant issues. As per the requirement of these guidelines, there can be two procedures to
resolve a sexual harassment complaint one is formal and another informal. International labor
organization requires that an organization is required to ensure that hearing if panel commences
within 5 days of the complaint (Ilo.org, 2013). An organization has to comply with the
requirements of all these legislations and guidelines.
Standard Industrial Practice
As mentioned above, the hospitality industry of Australia is facing cases of sexual
harassment on a daily basis; the businesses of this industry are taking steps to prevent this issue.
Applying and adopting a code of practice published by the human right commission, they are
being concerned about this issue. Hotels of this industry are getting high-level management

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support as a standard practice. Development of sexual harassment strategy and policy is one of
the industrial practices of the hospitality industry in Australia. Almost every hotel has policies on
this particular subject, which states how the organization would deal with the incidents of
physical harassment and what is expected from employees and other stakeholders. Hotels of
NSW has to develop these policies as is required under anti-discrimination Guidelines made by
the government for hotel and accommodation industry specifically
(Antidiscrimination.justice.nsw.gov.au, 2019)Training on the matters related to sexual
harassment is also a part of the industrial practices. Hotels are providing training of different
nature to its employees, which enable them to face and deal with the related incidents. If this
training would not be there, employees will probably not be able to even report such issues. As
per Safe Work Australia, sexual harassment comes under the category of workplace bullying
(Safeworkaustralia.gov.au, 2019). This is the reason that businesses of this industry are creating
a positive culture at their workplaces. In addition to these practices, the hotels also should adopt
measures such as internal review and checks in order to ensure that their sexual harassment
policies and anti-harassment rules are properly complying with.
Conclusion
In a conclusive way, this is to state that sexual harassment is an emerging health issue,
which affects the mental health of employees. As the consequences of the same are not sudden,
employers do not pay much attention to it. The issue is increasing in a very fast manner in the
hospitality industry of Australia and bringing adverse impact to employees. In the presented
report, the requirements of different legislation, codes, and guidelines related to selected issues
have been presented in addition to the standard practices adopted by the respective business. The
employer needs to understand that only workplace hazards are not significant but health hazards

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are also important equally and affect the health and working performance of employees. Sexual
harassment affects the mental health of employees in direct as well as the indirect manner and
therefore employers should take the necessary steps to prevent this issue.

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References
Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW)
Antidiscrimination.justice.nsw.gov.au. (2019). Anti-Discrimination Guidelines. Retrieved From:
http://www.antidiscrimination.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/hotel_guidelines.pdf
Au.reachout.com. (2019) What is sexual harassment? Retrieved From:
https://au.reachout.com/articles/what-is-sexual-harassment
Barandrestaurantcoach.com. (2019) Sexual Harassment in the Hospitality Industry | The Need
for Policies. Retrieved From: https://www.barandrestaurantcoach.com/sexual-
harassment-policy-hospitality/
Humanrights.gov.au. (2019) Sexual harassment. Retrieved From:
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/sex-discrimination/guides/sexual-
harassment#sh5
Ilo.org. (2013). Code of Conduct and Guidelines to Prevent and Address Sexual harrsasment in
workplaces. Retrieved From: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-
bangkok/---ilo-colombo/documents/publication/wcms_525537.pdf
Safeworkaustralia.gov.au. (2019) Bullying. Retrieved From:
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/bullying
Sex Discrimination Act 1984

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Topping, A. (2018) Sexual harassment rampant in hospitality industry, survey find. Retrieved
From: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/24/sexual-harassment-rampant-
hospitality-industry-unite-survey-finds
Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth)