From 12 December 2023 onwards, the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has the power to investigate and hold inquiries into employers who allegedly fail to comply with their duties in relation to unlawful sex discrimination.  The duties commenced on 13 December 2022 following the passing into law of the Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Act 2022.  These duties require employers to: (1) ‘eliminate, so far as is possible, discrimination involving subjecting persons to workplace environments that are hostile on the ground of sex; and (2) ‘take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate, so far as possible’ sex discrimination and sexual harassment.  These duties are similar to the positive duty employers have to ‘ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers’ which appears in the Model WHS legislation (which applies in all Australian States and Territories except for Victoria).  Section 28M of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (SDA) now provides that it is ‘unlawful for a person to subject another person to a workplace environment that is hostile on the ground of sex’.  In order for a person to breach this provision, the first person must engage in conduct in a workplace where the first or second person, or both, work and ‘a reasonable person, having regard to all the circumstances, would have anticipated the possibility of the conduct resulting in the work environment being offensive, intimidating or humiliating to a person of the sex of the second person’ by reason of the sex of the person or a characteristic that appertains generally or is imputed to the sex of the person.  Factors which may be taken into consideration when determining whether there is a hostile work environment include the seriousness of the conduct, whether it was continuous or repetitive, the role, influence or authority of the person engaging in the conduct and any other relevant circumstance.  Section 47C of the SDA confers the positive duty on employers to eliminate unlawful sex discrimination and sexual harassment.  As of 12 December 2023, the AHRC has the power to hold an inquiry into a person’s compliance with the aforementioned duties if it ‘reasonably suspects that the person is not complying‘.  The AHRC is not permitted to make a finding that a person has not complied unless it has given the person a reasonable opportunity to make submissions in relation to their compliance.  If the AHRC finds that a person has not complied it may issue a compliance notice to the person.  If requested to do so by the person the subject of the compliance notice, or on its own initiative, the AHRC must reconsider the compliance notice and decide to affirm, vary or revoke it.  If a compliance notice is not complied with and it has not been revoked or cancelled after any request for reconsideration, the President of the AHRC may apply to the Federal Court for an order directing the person to comply and/or any other order the Court considers appropriate.  The AHRC has issued guidelines about how to comply with the positive duty; this document is available at its website www.humanrights.gov.au  To avoid being in breach of the aforementioned legislation and the considerable reputational damage associated with being the subject of an AHRC inquiry, there has never been a better time for employers to get on the front foot to expunge sex discrimination and sexual harassment from their workplace.  If you are unsure of what to do, please seek legal advice.