FWC simplifies workplace harassment reporting with interactive tool, but will it work?

While common sentiment is that the new interactive tool addresses a fragmented reporting system, perhaps its creation reflects a much deeper issue in Australia.

In light of the system’s introduction on 10 September, HR Leader spoke to employment law specialists to examine its likely impact and practical implications.

According to Dentons employment and safety team partner Persephone Stuckey-Clarke, the tool may be of particular assistance to workers who are either struggling to navigate the complex and highly specific avenues currently available or those whose circumstances do not closely correlate with the unique eligibility criteria of existing reporting systems.

While acknowledging there are several avenues for employees “who believe they have been sexually harassed in connection with work … this new options tool is a resource that appears to be intended to assist unrepresented individuals to choose the most appropriate avenue”.

In a similar sentiment, Mallesons employee relations and safety partner Angela Weber said: “One of the biggest barriers individuals face when they’ve experienced sexual harassment at work isn’t the absence of legal protections, as Australia has a robust legal framework, but the sheer complexity of working out where to go.”

In this way, she surmised that the problem the reporting tool addresses is complexity and fragmentation.

Weber cited the Fair Work Commission, the Australian Human Rights Commission, numerous safety regulators, state and territory anti-discrimination bodies, and the police, noting that they often operate within distinct yet occasionally overlapping jurisdictions, whereby an individual can often only pick one pathway.

She said: “Since the Respect@Work reforms, we’ve had a positive duty on employers under the Sex Discrimination Act to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate sexual harassment. Additionally, the Fair Work Act now gives the commission power to make stop sexual harassment orders as well as awards of compensation.”

In the same way, state-level legislative developments such as that of Queensland’s positive duty obligations under the Anti-Discrimination Act and WHS regulator prevention plans mean there are more avenues “for redress than ever before, but the system has become correspondingly harder for individuals to navigate”.

Kingston Reid special counsel Jessica Tinsley also said the tool will likely be a welcome development for employees navigating fragmented systems and multiple bodies, “all with different rules, time limits, and outcomes”, and likely reduce misdirected or duplicated proceedings.

Tinsley predicted that employers will also save time, legal costs, and management resources, adding that “when employees file in the wrong forum or pursue multiple avenues for the same conduct, employers can spend significant resources responding to overlapping proceedings before the substance of the complaint is even addressed”.

“Steering employees towards the appropriate pathway should reduce that duplication and, ultimately, benefit employers as well,” she said.

In this way, Tinsley urged employers to use the tool’s introduction as a prompt to review internal processes, especially when it comes to managers – often the first point of contact when an employee is harassed.

“There is also a common misconception that simply acknowledging a complaint exposes an employer to liability. In fact, the opposite is true: under the positive duty, failing to have appropriate systems for receiving and responding to complaints can create a much greater regulatory risk,” she said.

“The practical steps are straightforward: keep policies current, give managers regular scenario-based training, and provide multiple clear, reporting channels so employees have options if they are uncomfortable approaching their direct manager.”

Weber said: “From an employer’s perspective, this new tool is an important development to be aware of, and organisations should consider incorporating reference to it into their sexual harassment prevention plan because it provides employees with access to objective and simple advice on avenues to seek redress.”

This advice is especially pertinent in the age of AI, with Stuckey-Clarke noting that the initiative may see a redirection of claims, and thereby limit wasted time reviewing workplace dispute paperwork completed by GenAI.

However, she warned there is a risk, as explained by the Fair Work Commission’s president, Justice Adam Hatcher, for “low engagement with the tool in favour of ‘sycophantic’ AI advice”.

While the exact impact of the new reporting portal is yet to be determined, it remains that the new option will likely reduce complexity and, hopefully, reduce cases and reports of sexual harassment in the workplace.

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