Under the Victorian Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) and the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), any form of sexual harassment in the workplace is unlawful. The Acts state that any sexually related behaviour which would cause a reasonable person to feel offended, humiliated or intimidated, can constitute sexual harassment at work. This includes subjecting anyone to physical intimacy, making remarks or statements with sexual connotations to or about a person in their presence or making any gesture, action or comment of a sexual nature in the person’s presence.
Examples of activity that may constitute workplace sexual harassment include; unwelcome touching, suggestive comments, inappropriate jokes, unwelcomed intimate advances, sending inappropriate emails, displaying sexual images or making sexual comments and intrusive intimate questions.