Sexual harassment policy template
Since the positive duty came in, waiting for a complaint is not enough. A business has to take reasonable and proportionate steps before anything happens. This policy is one of those steps, not the whole of it.
This example wording was checked against the official sources on 22 September 2026. It is a starting point, not legal advice, and it has not been through a workplace relations professional.
| Section | What the policy says |
|---|---|
| Purpose | To set out what sexual harassment is, the steps this business takes to prevent it, and what happens when it is reported. |
| Who it applies to | Everybody who works here, including employees, casuals, apprentices and trainees, contractors and their employees, labour hire staff, work experience students, volunteers and people applying for a job. It also covers the owner. |
| What sexual harassment is | An unwelcome sexual advance, an unwelcome request for sexual favours, or other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature towards the person being harassed. |
| What the test is | Whether a reasonable person, having regard to all the circumstances, would have anticipated the possibility that the person would be offended, humiliated or intimidated. What the person doing it intended does not matter, and it does not have to be repeated. One incident is enough. |
| Where it can happen | Anywhere connected with work, not only on the premises: online and in messages, in training, while travelling for work, and at work functions outside hours. |
| Customers, clients and suppliers | Customers, clients and suppliers must not sexually harass our staff. If it happens, tell the manager on duty. The manager will deal with the person, and may refuse service or end the visit. Nobody here is expected to put up with it to keep a sale. |
| A hostile work environment | Sexual or sexist comments, jokes, images or material can make a workplace hostile on the ground of sex even when they are not aimed at anybody in particular. That is not allowed here either. |
| What this business does to prevent it | A policy every person is given and taken through, a named person to report to and a second name if that person is the problem, rosters that avoid leaving a young or new employee alone with one other person on a closing shift, and a yearly conversation about how the place is running. |
| If it happens to you | Tell the manager on duty or the owner, in person or in writing, and bring somebody with you if you want. If both of those people are the problem, the contacts in the last section take reports directly. |
| If you see it happen | Tell the manager on duty or the owner. Witnesses can report, and are encouraged to. |
| What the business will do | Act on it promptly, keep it to the people who need to know, support the person who reported it, and decide what happens next. Serious conduct may result in dismissal, and some conduct is a criminal matter for the police. |
| No victimisation | Nobody will be treated badly for making a report in good faith, for supporting somebody who did, or for being a witness. Victimisation is unlawful and is itself a breach of this policy. |
| Where else you can go | The Australian Human Rights Commission, your state or territory anti-discrimination body, the Fair Work Commission, and the Fair Work Ombudsman. Conduct that may be a criminal offence can be reported to the police. This policy does not limit any of those. |
| Review date | Reviewed each year in March, and after any report. |
What is in the file
- Template, blank, with each section down the side and room for the answer.
- Example, the same sheet filled in for Harbourside Coffee.
- How to use, with the steps and the mistakes below.
How to fill it in
- Treat the policy as one step, not the answer. The positive duty asks for reasonable and proportionate steps to eliminate this conduct, and a document in a drawer is not a step.
- Name two people a report can go to and put their contact details in, so nobody has to ask who to tell.
- Read the Australian Human Rights Commission material for small business before you adapt it, and keep the definition as the law states it.
- Take everybody through it and write down who has been taken through it and when.
Common mistakes
- Treating the policy as the whole obligation, when the duty is to take steps and a policy is one of them
- Leaving customers and clients out, in a trade where most of the reports are about them
- Wording that asks the person harassed to raise it with the person who did it first, as though that were a requirement
What changes by trade
The law behind this document is the same wherever you trade, so the wording above is written once. What changes is what the trade puts in front of it.
| Pubs and clubs | Late trade, alcohol and a customer base that changes at 10pm. Write in what a bar attendant does when a patron crosses the line, and give the duty manager explicit authority to refuse service over it without checking first. rostering a pub or club |
| Cafes and restaurants | A young floor staff and a closed kitchen are the two places this is most often reported. Say who a junior tells when the person to tell is the chef, and avoid rostering one junior alone with one senior on a close. rostering a cafe |
| Retail | Most incidents involve a customer and happen with nobody else on the floor. Say that a staff member can leave the counter, and that a second person is rostered for the late hours rather than left to a call button. rostering a shop floor |
| Disability and home care | Support is given one to one in a private home, where nobody else sees it. Set out what a worker does when a participant or a family member behaves this way, including ending the appointment, and make clear it does not put their shifts at risk. rostering disability support |
| Security | Guards work alone and are often the only staff member a patron interacts with at the end of a night. Name who takes a report when the site supervisor works for the client rather than for you. rostering a security business |
| Hair and beauty | Close physical work with a regular client base makes the boundary easy to blur. Give staff explicit permission to hand a client to somebody else or decline the booking, with no explanation owed to the client. rostering a salon |
This is example wording for a small business to adapt, not legal advice. The definition of sexual harassment and the protection from it come from the Fair Work Act 2009 and the Sex Discrimination Act 1984. The positive duty is in the Sex Discrimination Act and is monitored and enforced by the Australian Human Rights Commission. An employer can be vicariously liable for acts of sexual harassment in connection with employment.
Sources
The official pages this wording was read against, on 22 September 2026.
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Rules about workplace sexual harassment
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Protection from discrimination at work
When a spreadsheet stops being enough
Roster Flow shows who is on together before the week is published, which makes a step like not rostering a new employee alone with one other person on a late close something you can actually check rather than intend.
Questions
What is on the sexual harassment policy template?
14 sections down the side, running from purpose to review date. The example beside them is filled in for Harbourside Coffee: the positive duty, what the law counts as harassment, and what a business has to do first.
Does the sexual harassment policy template work anything out for you?
No. It is a document with 14 sections to answer in your own words, not a calculator. Nothing on it is a formula.
Can I use the sexual harassment policy template in Google Sheets?
Yes. Open sexual-harassment-policy.xlsx from Google Drive, or use File, then Import, then Upload with sexual-harassment-policy.csv. The document and its example come across either way.
Is the wording in the sexual harassment policy template ready to use as it is?
The sexual harassment policy template is a starting point for Harbourside Coffee or any business like it, to adapt rather than sign. The wording was checked against the official sources on 22 September 2026, it is not legal advice, and it has not been through a workplace relations professional.