Reforms to the Fair Work Act in 2023 explicitly prohibiting workplace sexual harassment are beginning to show results, with two recent cases highlighting how the new laws provide an alternate pathway to access justice for victim-survivors.
The first case
In the first case heard by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia under these new Fair Work laws, the court heard that a young casual waitress on a visa was sexually harassed by her manager after she questioned whether she was being paid correctly for the hours that she had worked. The manager sent another worker out of the kitchen and then hugged the waitress from behind whilst she washed dishes, pinning her arms and pressing her against the sink. He pressed his body against her, made lewd comments and offered her cash from his wallet, before kissing her.
When the other worker re-entered the kitchen the manager instructed him to go home, causing the waitress to fear worse behaviour if left alone with the manager, however that other worker realised that something was amiss and remained in the kitchen until the waitress was ready to leave. Over the next few days, the manager repeatedly messaged the waitress asking her to keep the incident a secret from his wife and to return to work.
As well as the sexual harassment offences, the manager, who was also the sole director of the restaurant, failed to provide the waitress with a Fair Work Information Statement and a Casual Employment Information Statement at the commencement of her employment. There was no copy of the Award or the National Employment Standards provided for the waitress to view and no pay slips were provided. No casual loading, overtime rates or superannuation were paid as required by the Restaurant Industry Award, nor were any employee records kept as required by the Fair Work Act.
The court ordered that the manager pay the waitress compensation and pecuniary penalties totalling $90,000. The restaurant business went into liquidation shortly before the court hearing, so it is unlikely that the waitress will receive payment for her unpaid entitlements.
A spokesperson from the ACT Women’s Legal Centre hailed the judgement as a “landmark” decision but also acknowledged how difficult such claims are to pursue and a timeline of nearly two years, noting the waitress "faced denial of her allegations, threats of costs, and even the employer company going into liquidation on the eve of the hearing. It takes extraordinary courage to see through a case like this.”
The second case
A manager for a storage facility has been awarded $116,000 after being subjected to sexual harassment by a contractor and a customer of the business, highlighting that s.527D of the Fair Work Act protects workers regardless of who perpetrates sexual harassment against them in their workplace.
Early last year a cleaning and maintenance contractor working at the manager’s workplace began targeting him with homophobic and sexualised comments, as well as unwanted physical contact in the form of shoving and bumping the manager. The behaviour escalated when a regular customer became friendly with the contractor and began making similar mocking and derogatory comments.
The manager reported the incidents to his employer but felt that his complaints were ignored. After providing proof of what was happening in the form of a recording that he made of the interchanges he was having, he was told that he had contravened the Privacy Act. Shortly thereafter the manager was dismissed by his employer.
The court found that although the harassment was committed by a contractor who technically answered to the manager, and by a customer, the lack of a power imbalance didn't lessen the effects of the sexual harassment on the manager. The court awarded the manager $90,000 in compensation and an additional $13,000 pecuniary penalty from each of the two men. Neither the contractor nor the customer participated in the proceedings.
The lawyer representing the manager said that the decision confirms that workplace harassment laws extend beyond traditional employment relationships.
The new law
Prior to the reformed Fair Work laws, employees subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace could only seek protection via existing OHS laws or initiate civil proceedings through anti-discrimination laws.
Victim-survivors of workplace sexual harassment typically just want the behaviour to stop, both for themselves and for any future employees. The issues that victim-survivors have in relying on OHS laws for that protection is that those laws operate to punish employers, not to provide any remedy for the injured worker, and results can take years.
The reformed Fair Work laws came in as part of the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022, and targets harassment committed "in connection with work". It ensures that workers are protected from sexual harassment connected to their work, regardless of who perpetrates the harassment.
The laws pair with the duty imposed on employers by the Sex Discrimination Act to prevent sexual harassment. The prohibition is supported by a new dispute resolution framework, while the Fair Work Commission's (FWC) existing powers to make stop-sexual-harassment orders were merged into a new jurisdiction on preventing harassment in connection with work.
The new system also ensures that any person who applies to the FWC for a stop-sexual-harassment order is not blocked from bringing civil proceedings involving discriminatory or coercive conduct, in relation to the same matter, under OHS laws.
Read more: Mejia v Capital City Cafe-Bar [2026] FedCFamC2G 468 (26 March 2026)
Eklom v Marshall [2026] FedCFamC2G 772 (31 March 2026, published May 2026