Sexual Harassment Lawyers

Sexual harassment is unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that a reasonable person would have anticipated might offend, humiliate or intimidate you. In Western Australia you can take it to the Fair Work Commission, the Australian Human Rights Commission, the WA Equal Opportunity Commission or, for state-system workers, the WAIRC. Compensation is available, and the employer is usually liable too.

What Is Sexual Harassment?

Sexual harassment is an unwelcome sexual advance, an unwelcome request for sexual favours, or other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, in circumstances where a reasonable person would have anticipated the possibility that you would be offended, humiliated or intimidated. That is the definition in s 28A of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), and the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) uses the same one.

Two parts of the test work differently. Whether the conduct was unwelcome is about how you experienced it, not what the other person intended. Whether offence, humiliation or intimidation was a possibility is judged objectively, taking into account things like your sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, any disability, and the relationship and any power imbalance between you and the other person.

It can be done by anyone: a manager, a co-worker, a client, a customer or a contractor. It can happen at work, at a work function, while travelling for work, or online, including in messages sent outside work hours. It does not have to be repeated. A single incident can be enough.

Sexual harassment can be done to anyone, by anyone, whatever their sex.

The WA Equal Opportunity Act uses a narrower test. Under s 24 of the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA), you must also have had reasonable grounds to believe that rejecting or objecting to the conduct would disadvantage you at work, or you must actually have been disadvantaged at work because you rejected or objected to it. That can affect which forum you choose.

Types of Behaviour Constituting Sexual Harassment

Depending on the circumstances, the behaviour that can constitute sexual harassment includes:

Physical contact such as kissing, patting, pinching or touching in a sexual way;

Requiring hugs or kisses from employees or co-workers;

Requests for sexual favours, or offers of rewards at work in return for sex;

Threats, open or implied, that your job depends on going along with it;

Sexual assault, including attempts, which is also a crime and can be reported to police;

Intrusive questions about your sex life, relationships or body, including at a job interview;

Lewd comments, sexual jokes, innuendo and sexually explicit conversation, whether made to you or in your presence;

Suggestive comments about your appearance, or demands that you wear revealing clothing;

Sexually explicit images, screen savers or posters in the workplace;

Sexual messages, emails, calls or social media contact, including after hours;

Repeated unwanted invitations or romantic approaches after you have said no;

Sharing or threatening to share sexual images of you, or posting sexual comments about you online.

Related conduct is also unlawful. Harassment on the ground of sex (s 28AA of the Sex Discrimination Act) covers unwelcome, demeaning conduct because of your sex, even if it is not sexual. And subjecting people to a workplace environment that is hostile on the ground of sex (s 28M), for example through a culture of sexual jokes or images, is unlawful even if it is not directed at you personally.

Employers must also take reasonable and proportionate measures to prevent all of this. See The Positive Duty To Prevent Sexual Harassment.

What You Can Do About It

Your options at a glance

If you have been sexually harassed at work in Western Australia, you can usually take it to one of these:

the Fair Work Commission, under Part 3-5A of the Fair Work Act, in force since 6 March 2023;

the Australian Human Rights Commission, under the Sex Discrimination Act;

the WA Equal Opportunity Commission, under the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA); or

if you work in the WA state system (for the WA public sector, a WA council, or a business that is not a company), the WAIRC, under the Industrial Relations Act 1979 (WA), since 31 January 2025.

Sexual assault and threats can also be reported to the police, whatever else you do.

In most cases you must choose one forum for each allegation. Read the section on choosing before you lodge anything.

The Fair Work Commission

Section 527D of the Fair Work Act prohibits sexual harassment of a worker, a person seeking to become a worker, or a person conducting a business, in connection with their work. It covers employees, contractors, labour hire workers, apprentices, students on work experience and volunteers. Unlike most of the Fair Work Act, it is not limited to employees of companies.

You can ask the Commission to do either or both of two things (s 527F):

Make a stop sexual harassment order. The Commission must start dealing with this within 14 days. It can make any order to stop the harassment, but not an order to pay money, and only if there is a risk the harassment will continue (s 527J).

Deal with the dispute. The Commission will usually hold a conference to try to settle it. If it does not settle, the Commission can arbitrate if both sides agree, and then order compensation and lost pay (s 527S). Otherwise it issues a certificate, and you have 60 days to start a court case, where compensation is not capped and penalties can be ordered (s 527T).

The Commission may dismiss an application made more than 24 months after the last incident (s 527G). An application fee applies; check the current amount on the Commission's fees and costs page. The Commission's sexual harassment benchbook explains the process in detail.

The Australian Human Rights Commission

Sexual harassment in connection with work is unlawful under s 28B of the Sex Discrimination Act. You lodge a written complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission, which will try to conciliate it.

The President may end a complaint lodged more than 24 months after the conduct (s 46PH(1)(b) of the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 (Cth)). If it is not resolved, you have 60 days from the termination notice to go to the Federal Court or the Federal Circuit and Family Court (s 46PO(2)). You need the court's leave only if the complaint was ended for a reason other than there being no reasonable prospect of settling it (or its public importance), for example because it was out of time.

There is no cap on damages. Since 2 October 2024, an applicant who wins in court must generally be awarded their costs, and one who loses can be ordered to pay costs only in limited cases (s 46PSA).

The WA Equal Opportunity Commission

A complaint to the Equal Opportunity Commission must be lodged within 12 months of the conduct, or later if you show good cause (s 83). If it does not resolve, it goes to the State Administrative Tribunal, which can award damages of up to $40,000 (s 127).

Remember the narrower WA test: you must show that you reasonably believed rejecting or objecting to the conduct would disadvantage you at work, or that you were disadvantaged because you rejected or objected to it.

If you work in the WA state system

Since 31 January 2025, a worker in the WA state system can go to the WAIRC. You can apply for a stop sexual harassment order (no compensation, and only if there is a risk the harassment will continue), make a sexual harassment referral, or both (s 51BT). On a referral, the WAIRC can order compensation for loss or injury and lost pay, with no cap in the Act (s 51BZ).

The WAIRC may dismiss a proceeding started more than 24 months after the last incident (s 51BU). The filing fee is $50. Harassment that happened entirely before 31 January 2025 is dealt with under the old rules. See the WA state system for more.

Choosing the forum: you usually get one

The Acts stop you running the same allegation in several places:

A complaint to the Human Rights Commission or the Equal Opportunity Commission stops you making a Fair Work Commission application (other than one only for a stop order) or a court application about the same conduct, and the reverse is also true (s 734B of the Fair Work Act).

A complaint to any of those bodies, or a Fair Work Commission application, stops a later WAIRC referral about the same allegation (s 51BZD of the Industrial Relations Act).

A WAIRC referral stops a later Equal Opportunity Act complaint (s 83B of the Equal Opportunity Act).

The bar lifts only if the first claim is withdrawn or fails for want of jurisdiction. A complaint sitting in conciliation still counts. Get advice on the forum before you file anything. Our page on where to make a discrimination complaint compares the routes.

Your employer is usually liable too

An employer is liable for sexual harassment by its employees and agents in connection with their work unless it proves it took all reasonable steps to prevent it (s 106 of the Sex Discrimination Act; s 527E of the Fair Work Act; s 161 of the Equal Opportunity Act; s 51BS of the Industrial Relations Act). A policy that sits in a drawer is rarely enough.

Individuals who harassed you, and people who helped or permitted it, can also be named.

If you lost your job or felt forced to resign

Being dismissed, or being pushed into resigning, after complaining about sexual harassment may give you a separate claim. A general protections claim for a dismissal must be lodged with the Fair Work Commission within 21 days, and so must an unfair dismissal claim (28 days in the WAIRC for state-system employees). That deadline comes long before the others. See General Protections and Unfair Dismissal.

What to do now

Write down what happened, when, where, who was involved and who saw it, while it is fresh.

Keep messages, emails, images and social media posts. Take screenshots.

Tell someone you trust, and see your GP or a counsellor if it is affecting you. Their records can become important evidence.

Consider making an internal complaint, but you do not have to before going to a commission.

Get advice early, before the first deadline and before you lodge anything.

How MKI Legal can help

We act for people who have been sexually harassed at work, in every forum listed above. We can help you choose the right forum, prepare the application, and represent you at conciliation and in court or the Tribunal. Please contact us for a free and confidential initial discussion.

How Our Sexual Harassment Lawyers Help

The first call

We act for people in Perth and across Western Australia who have been sexually harassed at work. The first discussion is free and confidential. We ask what you want: for the harassment to stop so you can stay, compensation, a negotiated exit, or more than one of those. Then we tell you which options are open and which deadline comes first. You do not have to complain internally first.

The time limits that matter

If you were dismissed or forced to resign: 21 days for a general protections or unfair dismissal claim in the Fair Work Commission (28 days in the WAIRC for state-system employees). This usually comes first.

WA Equal Opportunity Commission: 12 months after the conduct, later only with good cause (s 83).

Fair Work Commission sexual harassment dispute, or Australian Human Rights Commission complaint: either may be dismissed or ended if made more than 24 months after the conduct (s 527G of the Fair Work Act; s 46PH(1)(b) of the Australian Human Rights Commission Act).

A stop sexual harassment order needs a risk that the harassment will continue, so it usually suits someone still at work.

Which forum, and why

We match the forum to what you want. A stop order suits someone who wants to stay. For compensation, it is normally better to go to the Australian Human Rights Commission. If the complaint does not resolve there, it can go to the Federal Court or the Federal Circuit and Family Court, where compensation is not capped. The costs risk is also low: since 2 October 2024 a worker who wins in court is generally awarded their costs, and one who loses can be ordered to pay costs only in limited cases (s 46PSA). By contrast, the WA Equal Opportunity Commission caps compensation at $40,000 and uses a narrower test of what counts as sexual harassment. Lodging in one place usually closes the others, so we settle the forum first.

WA reform is coming but is not law yet. On 20 October 2026 the WA Government introduced the Equal Opportunity Bill 2026, which would replace the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA). It would remove the narrower "disadvantage" test from the WA definition of sexual harassment and require employers to take reasonable steps to prevent harassment. As at 26 October 2026 the Bill has not passed Parliament, so the current Act, its test and its $40,000 cap still apply.

Evidence to keep

Keep messages, emails and images, with screenshots showing dates, a dated note of each incident and who saw it, any complaint you made and the reply, and your doctor's or counsellor's records. We also look at what your employer did to prevent the harassment. Employers have a positive duty to prevent it (s 47C of the Sex Discrimination Act), and one that did not take all reasonable steps is usually liable.

Confidentiality and settlement

Most matters settle, in negotiation or at conciliation. We negotiate the terms that matter to you: the amount, a reference, how any departure is described, and whether a confidentiality clause binds both sides and still lets you talk to your family, doctor and advisers. We draft or review the deed before you sign.

For each stage of our work, see how we help with bullying and sexual harassment.

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