Closing the pay gap recent changes to WGEA employer reporting obligations
20 April 2023
20 April 2023
In March 2022, WGEA published a report reviewing the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012. The report found that the gender pay gap fell from 18.5% in 2014 to 14.2% in 2022, and concluded that the speed of progress was too slow.
The report made 10 recommendations to accelerate progress. The WGEA Act 2023, and its respective legislative instruments, implements (in full or in part) 6 of the report's recommendations.
The employers who are required to report to WGEA are:
The new reporting obligations will come into effect on 1 April 2024.
Existing obligations | New obligations |
---|---|
Employers must share the gender equality reports they provide to WGEA with their employees, shareholders, and/or members. | Employers must also report the date that they shared the gender equality reports with their employees, shareholders, and/or members, and share their WGEA Executive Summary and Industry Benchmarks with their Board. |
Employers must report the full time equivalent salary for their casual and part-time employees. | Instead of reporting the full time equivalent salary for casual and part-time employees, employers must report actual earnings, and the number of hours worked. |
Employers must report the proportion of their workforce who have access to employer-funded paid parental leave for primary and secondary carers, and the proportion of employees who took a period of parental leave, and/or who ceased employment during, or at the end of, that period. | Instead of reporting the 'proportion of the workforce', employers must now report the 'number of employees' who took a period of parental leave, and/or who ceased employment during, or at the end of, that period. |
Employers must report information about the employer against the six gender equality indicators:
| In addition to reporting information against the gender equality indicators, employers must now report:
a) Provisions in any policy/strategy, including accountabilities for: o Preventing and responding o Provision of training, its frequency, and its content o Disclosure processes and management of disclosures; and o Leadership statements or communication to demonstrate commitment to prevention and response b) Information about sexual harassment risk management c) Information about the prevalence data organisations currently collect; and d) Supports available for staff. |
Employers with 500 or more employees must have policies or strategies in place to support one or more of these gender equality indicators:
| Employers with 500 or more employees must now have a policy or strategy against all six gender equality indicators:
|
One of the new reporting obligations will require employers to report "information about the prevalence data [they] currently collect" about sexual harassment, harassment on the grounds of sex and discrimination.
There is currently limited guidance about how this requirement will be applied in practice. It may be that WGEA will require employers to disclose actual complaint handling data, including the frequency of complaints and how often they are substantiated.
Employers may wish to consider their sources of this "prevalence data" and whether it is centrally maintained and appropriately de-identified, in case they need to report on this in detail to WGEA.
To prepare for their new reporting obligations in 2024, employers should:
Authors: Jennie Mansfield, Partner; and Amelia Taylor, Graduate.
The information provided is not intended to be a comprehensive review of all developments in the law and practice, or to cover all aspects of those referred to.
Readers should take legal advice before applying it to specific issues or transactions.