Respect at Work and Other Matters Amendment Bill 2024
Plain English Summary
Overview
This bill makes wide-ranging changes to Queensland's anti-discrimination, sentencing and judicial laws. It strengthens workplace protections against sexual harassment and discrimination, adds new grounds on which people are protected from unfair treatment, and requires employers to actively prevent discrimination. It also increases penalties for violence against workers and clarifies judicial immunity.
Who it affects
Workers, employers and businesses across Queensland are most affected. Workers gain stronger harassment protections and employers must take proactive steps to prevent discrimination. People experiencing homelessness, domestic violence survivors, and those with irrelevant criminal or medical records gain new discrimination protections.
Anti-discrimination reform
The bill implements recommendations from the national Respect@Work inquiry and Queensland's Building Belonging review. It introduces a positive duty on employers to prevent discrimination, prohibits sex-based harassment and hostile work environments, expands vilification protections to cover more attributes including age, sex and impairment, and gives the Queensland Human Rights Commission stronger investigation and enforcement powers.
- New protected attributes added: homelessness, physical appearance, irrelevant criminal record, irrelevant medical record, expunged conviction, subjection to domestic or family violence
- Employers must take reasonable steps to actively prevent discrimination, harassment and vilification (positive duty), with compliance enforceable by the QHRC
- New prohibitions on harassment on the basis of sex and creating hostile work environments in workplaces
- Vilification protections expanded to cover age, sex, impairment and sexual orientation, with a new harm-based provision and updated definition of public act covering social media
- Complaint timeframe for work-related sex-based contraventions extended from one year to two years
- Registered trade unions can bring representative complaints on behalf of members for workplace discrimination
Workplace violence sentencing
Courts must now treat violence against a person in their workplace as an aggravating factor when sentencing. This applies to all workers, including employees, contractors, volunteers and unpaid workers, and covers both physical violence and sexual assaults.
- New aggravating sentencing factor for offences involving violence against someone performing their work duties
- Applies to all working arrangements including volunteers and contractors
- Courts may decline to apply the factor only in exceptional circumstances
Judicial immunity and magistrate conditions
The bill clarifies that magistrates, District Court judges and QCAT officers have the same legal immunity as Supreme Court judges. It also allows magistrates to take unpaid parental leave for the first time.
- Magistrates, District Court judges and QCAT officers receive immunity equivalent to Supreme Court judges, including for administrative functions
- Magistrates can now access unpaid parental leave
- Immunity clarification applies retrospectively except for proceedings already started
Bill Journey
▸Committee14 June 2024View Hansard
Referred to Community Safety and Legal Affairs Committee
The Community Safety and Legal Affairs Committee examined the Respect at Work and Other Matters Amendment Bill 2024 over approximately six weeks, receiving 37 written submissions and holding a public hearing in Brisbane. The committee recommended the bill be passed, finding it had sufficient regard for fundamental legislative principles and that any limitations on human rights were reasonable and justified. Most stakeholders supported the reforms, though some religious organisations expressed concern about the impact on religious freedoms, and several advocacy groups were disappointed the bill did not go further. Two LNP members filed a Statement of Reservation raising concerns about legal uncertainty in the positive duty and vilification provisions.
Key findings (5)
- Most stakeholders supported the bill's objectives, including expanding protected attributes, introducing a positive duty to prevent discrimination, and strengthening vilification protections.
- Some religious organisations and individuals expressed concern that the bill would unreasonably burden religious schools and restrict the ability to teach and hire staff in accordance with religious convictions.
- Several stakeholders were disappointed the bill did not include additional reforms from the Queensland Human Rights Commission's Building Belonging Report, including a positive duty to make reasonable accommodations for people with disability and reform of religious school exemptions.
- The committee was satisfied that the bill's limitations on freedom of expression through strengthened vilification provisions were reasonable and demonstrably justifiable.
- The Department of Justice and Attorney-General advised that the bill's practical impact on religious workplaces would be limited given equivalent prohibitions already existing in federal legislation.
Recommendations (1)
- The committee recommends that the Respect at Work and Other Matters Amendment Bill 2024 be passed.
Committee report tabled
▸In Detail10 Sept 2024View Hansard
Amendments Nos 1-2: Set commencement dates for different parts of the bill, with representative complaints provisions commencing 1 December 2024 and the majority of anti-discrimination reforms commencing 1 July 2025.
Amendment No. 3: Technical amendment clarifying that Schedule 1 also amends the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991.
Amendments Nos 4-6: Implement key Building Belonging report recommendations including protection from intersectional and cumulative discrimination (combination of two or more attributes), updated definitions of direct and indirect discrimination with shared burden of proof, and clarification that creating a disadvantaging environment constitutes indirect discrimination.
Amendments Nos 7-8: Clarify that the new sex-based harassment and hostile work environment provisions do not limit existing Anti-Discrimination Act protections on the basis of sex or any other attribute.
Amendment No. 9: Create a single two-year time limit for bringing all discrimination complaints, replacing the previous dual system of two years for sex-based complaints and one year for other complaints.
Amendments Nos 10-14: Expand the Queensland Human Rights Commissioner's powers to investigate systemic contraventions of the Anti-Discrimination Act, prepare and publish investigation reports, and require the Commission to issue guidelines on positive duty compliance.
Amendment No. 15: Introduce a shared burden of proof for discrimination complaints, where if facts suggest a contravention occurred, the respondent must prove they did not contravene the provision.
Amendments Nos 16-24: Technical and consequential amendments including updated dictionary definitions for expunged conviction, homelessness, potential pregnancy (to include assisted reproductive technology), trade union activity, and transitional provisions for the new burden of proof.
Amendments Nos 25-26: Consequential amendments to Corrective Services Act provisions on prisoner discrimination and clarification that the serious assault offence applies to operational workers in public hospitals including security officers, wardspersons, cleaners and food service workers.
Amendments Nos 27-28: Introduce reserve judge provisions for the District Court and Supreme Court, allowing retired judges to be appointed as reserve judges and engaged for up to six months at a time, with corresponding remuneration arrangements under the Judicial Remuneration Act 2007.
Amendments Nos 29-30: Amend sentencing transcript provisions so courts only provide copies of sentencing reasons to Corrective Services upon request from the chief executive.
Amendments Nos 31-34: Insert provisions for reserve judges in the Supreme Court, consequential amendments replacing 'unfavourable treatment' with 'detriment' throughout the Anti-Discrimination Act, and amendments to various Queensland Acts relating to the new Commonwealth Administrative Review Tribunal.