The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has awarded AUD 150,000 in general damages after finding the Applicant was sexually assaulted and sexually harassed over a period of eleven months. The Applicant was a beauty therapist in a private salon and the harasser was her male co-worker. VCAT found the employer vicariously liable for the co-worker’s actions, but declined to make a finding that the employer had authorised, encouraged or assisted the sexual harassment under s 105 of the Equal Opportunity Act 2010.
Author
Bianca Dearing
BrowsingBianca Dearing is a special counsel in the Employment & Industrial Relations team at Baker McKenzie, Sydney. Bianca has more than 10 years' experience in this area of law, and acts for clients in a broad range of industries including banking and finance, health and pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, real estate, information technology and professional services.
During her time at the Firm, Bianca has been seconded to the in-house legal team at the Fair Work Ombudsman where she assisted on statutory and modern award compliance matters, including preparing cases for trial and attending trial. More recently, Bianca was seconded to a multinational professional services firm where she advised on a wide variety of employment issues (including employment agreements, executive agreements, post-employment restraints, and day-to-day human resources matters).
Bianca regularly provides training in employment law, human resources and regulatory compliance (including compliance with work health and safety and whistleblowing laws). Bianca has also assisted in the preparation of publications for the CCH Australian Master Human Resources Guide.