Under the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (the Act), registered relevant employers must lodge an annual Gender Equality Report with WGEA and meet all compliance requirements to receive a certificate of compliance.
Relevant employers who do not meet their compliance requirements may not be eligible to compete for government contracts under the Workplace Gender Equality Procurement Principles. They also may not be eligible for Commonwealth grants or other financial assistance.
Overview of compliance requirements
Compliance requirements | Links to relevant pages |
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Prepare and lodge an annual report by the due date Each year, relevant employers must prepare and lodge a Gender Equality Report with WGEA containing information in relation to employee and governing body composition and pay, as well as workplace policies and practices. Reports must be lodged during the two-month lodgement period (or within an approved extension period). | |
CEO approval and sign-off Before you can lodge your Gender Equality Report, your CEO (or equivalent) must review and sign off on the following documents:
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Gender Equality Standards requirement Designated Relevant Employers (DREs) are required to have policies or strategies in place to support each of the 6 Gender Equality Indicators (GEIs). A DRE is any relevant employer that directly employs 500 or more employees in Australia. | |
Gender Equality Targets requirement DREs are required to select and meet or demonstrate improvement against 3 gender equality targets. | |
Notification and access requirements These requirements relate to how and when a relevant employer must share certain documents from their Gender Equality Report, and who they must be shared with. Employers must:
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Reports to be given to governing body (if any) The CEO (or equivalent) of a relevant employer is required to give a copy of the Executive Summary and Industry Benchmark Report to each member of the governing body (if any). | |
Employer must not give false or misleading information Relevant employers must not give false or misleading information to WGEA. This requirement:
WGEA can name an employer as non-compliant for providing false or misleading information. Further, the Act makes providing this information a criminal offence – which empowers WGEA to refer the matter to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions for further investigation. |
Corporate groups – impact on parent organisation
A relevant employer can be a corporate group with 100 or more employees in total across all employing ABNs (subsidiaries).
If a subsidiary fails to meet any compliance requirement – other than those that specifically apply to designated relevant employers (DREs) – the parent company will be considered non-compliant.
DREs have additional compliance requirements to meet related to Gender Equality Standards and Gender Equality Targets. Failure to meet these additional requirements will result in a DRE’s non-compliance – but this will not affect the compliance status of other related entities in the organisational structure.
For further information, refer to Corporate Structures.
Certificate of compliance
When a relevant employer lodges their Gender Equality Report within the lodgement period (or an approved extension period) and meets all reporting compliance requirements, the employer will be deemed compliant with the Act and therefore eligible to receive a certificate of compliance.
For further information, refer to Certificate of compliance.
Consequences of non-compliance
If an employer does not meet all their compliance requirements, WGEA may:
- name the employer in a report to the Minister that is tabled in both Houses of Parliament
- name the employer publicly by electronic or other means
- not issue the employer with a certificate of compliance.
For further information, refer to Consequences of non-compliance.