AISV - Compliance Framework, Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace

Reporting requirements under the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 (Cth.).

Compliance Directory
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Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace

AISV Compliance Framework

Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace

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Do you need to comply?

Possibly. Schools with 100 or more employees are required to comply with the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 (Cth.).

Conditions of compliance

Unless reporting has been waived for an individual employer, the Act requires all non-government schools with 100 or more employees to submit an annual public report to the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA), a government body established to administer the Act. The EOWA's primary role is to advise employers of their obligations under the Act, as well as provide employers with information for, and about, women in the workplace.

NOTE: As of 2008, public report submissions to EOWA will be biennial for schools who have complied with the Act for three consecutive years. To be eligible for biennial reporting, an employer must submit an application for waiver to the EOWA.

If you have to comply, what do you have to do?

The public report is designed to gather data about the employer's workplace profile and equal opportunity policy in regard to women in the workplace. For the submitted report to be in compliance with the Act, the report should be based on the EOWA's six-step equal opportunity workplace program.

The six steps are:

1. Preparing a workplace profile of employee numbers by gender and job description

2. Analysis of issues for women in the workplace, through a survey or by other means, in accordance with the seven employment matters:

Recruitment and Selection
Promotion, Transfer and Termination
Training and Development
Work Organisation
Conditions of Service
Arrangements for dealing with Sex-Based Harassment
Arrangements for dealing with Pregnancy, Potential Pregnancy and Breastfeeding

3. Identify any priority issues in regards to the employment matters

4. Initiate action to address any priority issues

5. Evaluate the effectiveness of these actions

6. Identify and monitor ongoing and future actions

The public report must meet all the EOWA's requirements for the employer to be regarded as having complied with the Act.

The reporting date each year is 1 April. The report must be lodged within two months of the reporting date. Unless a waiver applies, the report must be submitted to the EOWA by 31 May. An organisation may apply to the Director for an extension of up to six months of the reporting date of the public report. The application must be made within two months of the original reporting date. The Agency may request an employer to provide information concerning any aspect of an employer's workplace program, its preparation or the report itself.

What are the consequences if you don't comply?

Breaches of the Act, or non-compliance with the EOWA, could result in two different sanctions: the school could be publicly named in a list presented annually before the Federal Parliament (also published on the EOWA website), thereby attracting possible public notice. In addition, non-compliance may exclude the school from applying for certain government grants and industry assistance.

Where a Member School employed 100 employees for the first time during the current reporting year, and has not collected the necessary data for the completion of a report, it is recommended that contact be made with the EOWA. The EOWA will usually make arrangements for compliance to be achieved in the subsequent reporting year.

Who will help you?

AISV contact:

Kerri Knopp
Director, Strategic Relations
Ph. 03 9825 7210
kerri.knopp@ais.vic.edu.au

Sandro Mazzotta
Senior Workplace Relations Adviser
Ph. 03 9825 7206
sandro.mazzotta@ais.vic.edu.au

Sarah Matar
Workplace Relations Adviser
Ph: 03 9825 7215
sarah.matar@ais.vic.edu.au