Variation to Fair Work Regulations 2009 (C’th)

The Fair Work Regulations 2009 (FW Regulations) have recently been varied to include sexual harassment as one of the factors that could be considered to be serious misconduct.

The change to the FW Regulations gives effect to recommendation 31 of the Respect@Work: National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in the Workplace (Respect@Work Report).  

The Respect@Work Report observed that the intention of recommendation 31 was to provide clarification to assist in ensuring that sexual harassment was understood by both employers and employees as conduct that was potentially serious enough to be inconsistent with the continuation of the employees’ employment and as a result may justify summary dismissal.