Discrimination and equity page 19 of 89

Gender discrimination continues to be the biggest single driver of a pay gap that is nationally costing women more than $50 billion a year, according to a new report prepared for Diversity Council Australia and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

The bid by Qantas to overturn a Federal Court ruling that it took unlawful adverse action against its former ground crew employees argues that some of the Fair Work Act's protected workplace rights are "time bound".

Victoria's Andrews Labor Government has today announced it is implementing recommendations from its workplace sexual harassment taskforce, including restricting the use of non-disclosure agreements.

The Albanese Government has the opportunity to take "bold and decisive action" to make workplaces safe and harassment-free, according to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus QC.

A UK tribunal has awarded a Christian factory-worker £22,000 ($39,000) in compensation, after finding on appeal that his dismissal for refusing to remove a crucifix necklace constituted indirect discrimination.

The NSW IRC has upheld the dismissal of a worker sacked for breaching his employer's code of conduct when he made homophobic comments.

The WGEA is urging employers to boost part-time workers' access to management roles and implement gender-neutral leave policies, as gender pay gap research shows women make up less than half of the full-time workforce and are out-earned by men at every age.

In a general protections ruling, a court has awarded $160,000 in compensation and damages to a stonemason dismissed because of his work-related silicosis.

In a wide-ranging IR Bill, Queensland's Palaszczuk Labor Government is taking a national lead in empowering the State IRC to arbitrate s-xual harassment cases and set minimum standards for gig delivery workers, while seeking also to rein in unregistered unions.

WA's parliamentary inquiry into sexual harassment of female workers in the FIFO mining sector has recommended that the industry ensure there are "serious repercussions" for perpetrators, keep a blacklist of perpetrators to stop them simply moving to other sites and rebalance the proportion of direct and indirect hires to reduce risks.