What Behaviours Constitute Sexual Harassment

Asking what behaviours constitute sexual harassment produces a list, and the list is only half an answer, because the same conduct can fall on either side of the line.

What shifts it is context. Whether the conduct was welcome, which is not the same as whether anybody objected out loud. Whether a power difference made objecting difficult. Whether it was repeated after any signal that it was unwanted. And what a reasonable person would have anticipated in those circumstances.

That is why training built purely on a list of banned behaviours tends not to change much. People compare their own conduct to the list, decide it is not there, and continue.

Training built around the test, rather than around the list, changes considerably more behaviour.

The Australian Human Rights Commission publishes guidance. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s sexual harassment course and respect at work training.