The Senate has passed the Government’s workplace gender equality legislation, the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Amendment Bill 2001 (Cth). The Bill establishes a new reporting framework for employers and changes the name of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 (Cth) (EOWW Act) to the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (WGE Act).
The new law aims to “modernise” the EOWW Act to change the focus of gender equality legislation from equal opportunity in the workplace for women only, to gender equality in the workplace for men and women through new reporting requirements for employers.

The key changes to reporting requirements to commence in May 2014 are summarised below:

• Gender Equality Indicators: all relevant employers (i.e. non-public sector employers with 100 or more employees) must report annually on their compliance with a set of gender equality indicators (GEI). GEI’s are defined as:
  • gender composition of the workforce;
  • gender composition of governing bodies of relevant employers;
  • equal remuneration between men and women;
  • availability and utility of employment terms, conditions and practices relating to flexible working arrangements for employees and to working arrangements supporting employees with family or caring responsibilities;
• consultation with employees on issues concerning gender equality in the workplace; and
• any other matters specified by the Minister.
• Minimum standards: the report must meet minimum standards, set by the Minister each year. The standards will be evidence based, relating to quantitative outcomes or evidence of actions taken that are aimed at improving quantitative outcomes.
• Chief Executive sign-off: the report must be signed off by the Chief Executive Officer of the employer.
• Notification and access: after the report is lodged, employers must inform their employees, shareholders and unions that the report has been lodged and provide access to the report to employees and shareholders. Employers must also allow employees and unions an opportunity to provide comments on the report to the Agency and/or employer.

The transition to the new reporting obligations will be phased in over the next two years.

Consequences for non-compliance with the reporting obligations under the WGE Act- the Workplace Gender Equality Agency will name non-compliant employers through its annual report and other means. Additionally, non-compliant employers may also be ineligible to compete for Commonwealth procurement contracts, Commonwealth grants or other financial assistance.

Should you wish to arrange a consultation, please contact Mr George Hanna by email on ghanna@gmhlegal.com  or call us on (02) 9587 0458.