On 5 March 2020, the Australian Human Rights Commission released its fourth national survey on Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces. The report has wide-ranging implications for employers – from a policy perspective and what it means to the culture of the workplace. In case you missed it, the Employment, IR and Safety team hosted a … Read more
Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the Government Equalities Office and the Equality and Human Rights Commission have this morning suspended enforcement of the gender pay gap deadlines for this reporting year (2019/20). The decision means that there will be no expectation on employers to report their data. See the announcement here. Read more
On 5 March 2020, the Australian Human Rights Commission (the Commission) released its long-awaited report on sexual harassment in Australian workplaces, “Respect@Work”. The report is the culmination of an 18-month inquiry, led by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins. It is comprehensive and data-driven, and concludes (amongst other things) that the current legal framework is, in … Read more
A number of recent cases (see our blog post here) have grappled with the question of what amounts to a protected philosophical belief for the purposes of discrimination law, reflecting a growing trend of claimants seeking to push the boundaries (in some cases because of a lack of eligibility to claim unfair dismissal). Previous case … Read more
Our Asia Employment, Pensions and Incentives update this month looks at: the initial public holiday changes and subsequent extensions issued by various provinces in China, following the outbreak of Novel Coronavirus; an overview of changes to various employment legislation in South Korea, including changes to the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act, the … Read more
New technical guidance on sexual harassment and harassment at work has been published by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. It is anticipated that at some point the guidance will become a statutory code of practice, which would mean that tribunals would be obliged to take it into account in relevant cases; before then, tribunals … Read more
Equal pay claims must be brought within 6 months of the end of employment or, if the employee has worked on a series of different contracts, from the end of the “stable working relationship”. The EAT in Barnard v Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority ruled that a promotion to a new managerial role did not … Read more
The new world of work: report warns of an unprecedented rise in workplace activism Across all sectors and geographies workers are becoming more vocal in articulating their views – about the workplace, their employer and about wider social issues – and increasingly holding organisations to account, enabled and amplified by social media. This trend is … Read more
This month’s update looks at: the rise of “patahara” (paternity related harassment) in Japan, in particular the most recent legal challenge considering this issue; in Singapore, the Government’s upcoming plans to increase the retirement age and re-employment age and what employers need to do to prepare; the Indonesian government’s proposal to reform the existing labour … Read more
