Sexual harassment can take many forms. It may involve a single serious incident or a pattern of behaviour over time. It may be overt and obvious, or it may involve conduct that initially leaves you uncertain about whether a line has been crossed.

Sexual harassment at work can include unwanted sexual advances or touching, sexual comments or jokes, intrusive questions about your private or sexual life, sexualised messages or images, repeated requests for dates, sexually suggestive behaviour, or other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature.

It can happen in person or online and can involve a manager, colleague, client, customer, contractor or another person you encounter through work. Sexual harassment can also overlap with sex discrimination, a hostile workplace environment, victimisation or other unlawful treatment.

You do not need to know the legal answer before seeking advice. Many people contact a lawyer because something has happened at work that made them uncomfortable, distressed or unsafe, but they are unsure whether it meets the legal definition of sexual harassment.

Melanie can listen to what happened, explain the laws that may apply and help you understand your options. Seeking advice does not commit you to making a complaint or taking legal action.

There is no ‘correct’ way to respond to sexual harassment. What you decide to do may depend on whether the conduct is continuing, whether you want to remain in your workplace, the effect it has had on you, the evidence available, your financial and personal circumstances, and what you would like to achieve.

Your options may include raising the issue informally, making an internal workplace complaint, negotiating directly with your employer or another party, seeking a negotiated resolution, making a complaint to a discrimination or human rights commission or the Fair Work Commission, or commencing legal proceedings.

Melanie can help you understand the advantages, disadvantages and potential consequences of the different options available to you.
Get legal advice before choosing where to make your complaint

If possible, obtain legal advice before lodging a formal legal complaint or application.

Sexual harassment at work is regulated by overlapping Commonwealth and Victorian laws. Depending on your circumstances, there may be several different places where you could make a complaint or commence proceedings.

The procedures, legal tests, remedies, time limits and potential costs can differ. Importantly, the pathway you choose at the beginning can affect the options available to you later.

Melanie can help you identify what you want to achieve and advise you about the legal pathway that may give you the best opportunity to achieve those outcomes. It is not always possible to change course after a legal complaint or application has been lodged.

Depending on your circumstances and what you want to achieve, Melanie can help you:

• understand whether conduct may amount to unlawful sexual harassment or discrimination 

• understand your legal rights, options, time limits and possible remedies

• identify the outcomes that matter to you and develop a legal strategy

• respond to conduct that is continuing

• prepare an internal complaint to an employer or another organisation

• respond to an investigation or other workplace process

• negotiate directly with your employer or other party or organisation

• negotiate settlement outcomes, such as compensation, an apology, changes to workplace practices or other outcomes

• prepare a complaint to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission or Australian Human Rights Commission or an application to the Fair Work Commission

• prepare for and participate in conciliation, mediation and other dispute resolution processes

• commence legal proceedings where appropriate

• represent you in negotiations, dispute resolution, courts and tribunals.

Melanie can assist clients to make complaints and represent them in dispute resolution processes at the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Fair Work Commission.

Where court or tribunal proceedings are appropriate, Melanie can advise and represent clients in proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia, Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, Supreme Court of Victoria, Magistrates’ Court of Victoria and Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).

Different people want different things after experiencing sexual harassment. For some people, the immediate priority is making the behaviour stop or being able to feel safe at work. Others may want to protect their employment, obtain compensation for financial or other harm, negotiate an exit from their workplace, receive an acknowledgement or apology, hold a person or organisation accountable, repair relationships, or ensure that what happened to them does not happen to someone else.

Understanding what matters to you is an important part of deciding what legal strategy to pursue. Melanie works with clients to identify their priorities and develop a legal strategy directed towards outcomes that are meaningful to them.