Overview
Each row of this dataset represents one formal complaint of sexual harassment within your workplace.
Sexual harassment is non-consensual or unwelcome sexual behaviour that could reasonably be expected to make a person feel offended, humiliated or intimidated.
Sexual harassment may be physical, spoken or written (including through online spaces and social media platforms) and can be directed at, and perpetrated by, persons of any gender. A single incident can constitute sexual harassment, as can a broader pattern of behaviour.
The Commissioner recognises the sensitive nature of sexual harassment complaint data. By collecting this information separately from other employee data, organisations will be able to include sexual harassment complaint data in their audit submissions while preserving employees' confidentiality. Please refer to privacy and confidentiality in the Appendix(opens in a new window) section and the Commission’s Privacy policy(opens in a new window) for additional guidance.
Add a row to this dataset for each formal complaint registered within the audit reporting period. Capture any complaint related to an incident in your workplace or as a part of external workplace activities. If a group of complainants filed a complaint together, record it as a single row in this dataset.
You must include
- Complaints recorded across all your formal complaint reporting systems – for example if you report complaints between employees separately from complaints involving patients, clients or members of the public for example, you must include the complaints from each system.
- Complaints made to your organisation.
- Complaints made to an external agency (such as the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission) regarding conduct within your workplace where you have recorded information about these complaints.
- Complaints made formally by employees and non-employees. This can include
- An employee or group of employees
- A governing body member or group of governing body members
- A member of the public alleging sexual harassment by an employee in your workplace
- Another category to the above that is appropriate to your organisation (e.g. patient, customer, supplier)
- Complaints made formally (as above) irrespective of whether the respondent (i.e. who the complaint is about) is an employee or non-employee. This can include
- Clients, customers, patients and other stakeholders
- Colleagues
- Managers and leaders
- Members of the public
You must not include
- Complaints that were reported through an employee experience survey but did not result in a formal complaint being recorded.
For more information on the legal definition of sexual harassment and your obligations under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010, refer to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission guideline Preventing and responding to workplace sexual harassment(opens in a new window).
If your organisation received no formal sexual harassment complaints during the audit reporting period, you must:
- leave the Sexual harassment complaints dataset empty
- populate the field Sexual harassment complaints data availability in the Organisation (opens in a new window)dataset(opens in a new window) with the value ‘N’ to indicate that there were no occurrences of formally reported sexual harassment within the report period.
If your organisation received formal sexual harassment complaints but you are unable to provide the data for them, your audit may be non-compliant with the Act. You must
- leave the Sexual harassment complaints dataset empty
- enter the value ‘DU’ to represent that the data is not available in the Sexual harassment complaints data availability field within the Organisation (opens in a new window)dataset(opens in a new window)
- provide a clear and valid explanation of why you were unable to provide the data in the Reason sexual harassment complaints data unavailable field within the Organisation dataset(opens in a new window).
Number of complainants
This field is required for each complaint.
- This field must be populated meaningfully for every complaint record.
- Refer to the requirements and acceptable values for this field below for how to populate this field.
| Definition | Requirements and acceptable values |
|---|---|
Each row of this dataset represents one formal complaint of sexual harassment within your workplace. Use this field to capture the number of complainants associated with each formal complaint of sexual harassment. Unless a group of complainants filed a single complaint together, you should enter 1 in this field. A complainant is an employee, member of the governing body, or member of the public who makes a formal complaint of sexual harassment in a workplace or work-related setting. For complaints registered by an individual, enter 1 in this field. If known, please capture information about the complainant (such as gender and age) in the remaining complainant fields. For complaints registered by a group of people:
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Gender (complainant)
This field is required for each complaint
- This field must be populated meaningfully for every complaint record.
- Refer to the requirements and acceptable values for this field below for how to populate this field.
| Definition | Requirements and acceptable values |
|---|---|
Use this field to indicate the gender of a person or group of people who made a sexual harassment complaint. For more information and recommendations on how to collect gender-disaggregated data, please refer to the Gender(opens in a new window) data field description. Use the value 'Data unavailable' if your organisation cannot provide this information at this time. Note: as described in Summary of changes between 2023 and 2025(opens in a new window), the ‘Data unavailable’ option for this field will be removed for the 2027 audit. |
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Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (Complainant)
This field is recommended for each complaint
- If you have available data for this field, we recommend you populate it for every complaint record.
- If you do not have available data for this field, you must still populate it with an acceptable value.
- Refer to the requirements and acceptable values for this field below for how to populate this field.
| Definition | Requirements and acceptable values |
|---|---|
Use this field to indicate whether the complainant is Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. Use the value 'Prefer not to say' for people who chose not to disclose their identity to your organisation. Use the value 'Data unavailable' for complaints made by a group of complainants, or if your organisation can't provide this information at this time. |
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Age (Complainant)
This field is recommended for each complaint
- If you have available data for this field, we recommend you populate it for every complaint record.
- If you do not have available data for this field, you must still populate it with an acceptable value.
- Refer to the requirements and acceptable values for this field below for how to populate this field.
| Definition | Requirements and acceptable values |
|---|---|
Use this field to indicate the complainant's age range, as at the last day of the audit reporting period. Use the value 'Data unavailable' for complaints made by a group of complainants, or if your organisation can't provide this information at this time. |
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Cultural identity (Complainant)
This field is recommended for each complaint
- If you have available data for this field, we recommend you populate it for every complaint record.
- If you do not have available data for this field, you must still populate it with an acceptable value.
- Refer to the requirements and acceptable values for this field below for how to populate this field.
| Definition | Requirements and acceptable values |
|---|---|
Cultural identity is the group to which a person feels they belong. This might be based on ancestry, tradition, language, geography and/or individual experience. Where possible, multiple responses should be collected for this data item to ensure complainants are able to list all groups with which they identify. If a complainant has selected multiple cultural identities, format the selections as a list delimited with vertical bars like this: A|B|C Use the value 'Prefer not to say' for people who chose not to disclose their identity to your organisation. Use the value 'Data unavailable' for complaints made by a group of complainants, or if your organisation can't provide this information at this time. |
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Disability status (Complainant)
This field is recommended for each complaint
- If you have available data for this field, we recommend you populate it for every complaint record.
- If you do not have available data for this field, you must still populate it with an acceptable value.
- Refer to the requirements and acceptable values for this field below for how to populate this field.
| Definition | Requirements and acceptable values |
|---|---|
Use this field to indicate the complainant’s disability status. Use the value 'Prefer not to say' for people who chose not to disclose their disability status to your organisation. Use the value 'Data unavailable' for complaints made by a group of complainants, or if your organisation can't provide this information at this time. |
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Religion (Complainant)
This field is recommended for each complaint
- If you have available data for this field, we recommend you populate it for every complaint record.
- If you do not have available data for this field, you must still populate it with an acceptable value.
- Refer to the requirements and acceptable values for this field below for how to populate this field.
| Definition | Requirements and acceptable values |
|---|---|
Use this field to indicate the complainant’s religion. Use the value 'Prefer not to say' for people who chose not to disclose their religion to your organisation. Use the value 'Data unavailable' for complaints made by a group of complainants, or if your organisation can't provide this information at this time. |
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Sexual orientation (Complainant)
This field is recommended for each complaint
- If you have available data for this field, we recommend you populate it for every complaint record.
- If you do not have available data for this field, you must still populate it with an acceptable value.
- Refer to the requirements and acceptable values for this field below for how to populate this field.
| Definition | Requirements and acceptable values |
|---|---|
Use this field to indicate the complainant’s sexual orientation. Use the value 'Prefer not to say' for people who chose not to disclose their sexual orientation to your organisation. Use the value 'Data unavailable' for complaints made by a group of complainants, or if your organisation can't provide this information at this time. |
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Complainant type
This field is required for each complaint
- This field must be populated meaningfully for every complaint record.
- Refer to the requirements and acceptable values for this field below for how to populate this field.
| Definition | Requirements and acceptable values |
|---|---|
Use this field to indicate who made the sexual harassment complaint. Use the value 'Other' if the complainant doesn't fit into any of the complainant types listed, or for a group containing multiple types of complainants. Use the value 'Data unavailable' if your organisation cannot provide this information at this time. Note: as described in Summary of changes between 2023 and 2025(opens in a new window), the ‘Data unavailable’ option for this field will be removed for the 2027 audit. |
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Complainant relationship to incident
This field is required for each complaint
- This field must be populated meaningfully for every complaint record.
- Refer to the requirements and acceptable values for this field below for how to populate this field.
| Definition | Requirements and acceptable values |
|---|---|
Use this field to indicate whether the complainant made a complaint on their own behalf, or with regard to an incident they witnessed. Use the value 'Data unavailable' if your organisation cannot provide this information at this time. Note: as described in Summary of changes between 2023 and 2025(opens in a new window), the ‘Data unavailable’ option for this field will be removed for the 2027 audit. |
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Number of respondents
This field is required for each complaint
- This field must be populated meaningfully for every complaint record.
- Refer to the requirements and acceptable values for this field below for how to populate this field.
| Definition | Requirements and acceptable values |
|---|---|
Each row of this dataset represents one formal complaint of sexual harassment within your workplace. Use this field to capture the number of respondents associated with each formal complaint of sexual harassment. Unless a complaint was raised against a group of people, you should enter 1 in this field. A respondent is an employee, member of the governing body, or member of the public who has been alleged to have sexually harassed others in your workplace. For complaints regarding an individual respondent's conduct, enter 1 in this field. For complaints regarding the conduct of a group of respondents, record the number of people in this field. If you aren't sure of the size of the group, enter 1. |
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Gender (Respondent)
This field is required for each complaint
- This field must be populated meaningfully for every complaint record.
- Refer to the requirements and acceptable values for this field below for how to populate this field.
| Definition | Requirements and acceptable values |
|---|---|
Use this field to indicate the gender of a person who was the subject of the sexual harassment complaint. For more information and recommendations on how to collect gender-disaggregated data, please refer to the Gender(opens in a new window) data field description. Use the value 'Data unavailable' if your organisation cannot provide this information at this time. Note: as described in Summary of changes between 2023 and 2025(opens in a new window), the ‘Data unavailable’ option for this field will be removed for the 2027 audit. |
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Respondent relationship to complainant
This field is required for each complaint
- This field must be populated meaningfully for every complaint record.
- Refer to the requirements and acceptable values for this field below for how to populate this field.
| Definition | Requirements and acceptable values |
|---|---|
Use this field to indicate the respondent's workplace relationship to the complainant. Select the value that best describes the respondent or respondents. Use the value 'Data unavailable' if your organisation cannot provide this information at this time. Note: as described in Summary of changes between 2023 and 2025(opens in a new window), the ‘Data unavailable’ option for this field will be removed for the 2027 audit. |
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Complaint outcomes
This field is required for each complaint.
- This field must be populated meaningfully for every complaint record.
- Refer to the requirements and acceptable values for this field below for how to populate this field.
| Definition | Requirements and acceptable values |
|---|---|
Use this field to indicate the outcome of the sexual harassment complaint. If the complaint had multiple outcomes, format the selections as a list delimited with vertical bars like this: A|B|C Use the value 'No outcome' for complaints that have not been resolved yet. Use the value 'Data unavailable' if your organisation cannot provide this information at this time. Note: as described in Summary of changes between 2023 and 2025(opens in a new window), the ‘Data unavailable’ option for this field will be removed for the 2027 audit. |
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Handling method
This field is required for each complaint.
- This field must be populated meaningfully for every complaint record.
- Refer to the requirements and acceptable values for this field below for how to populate this field.
| Definition | Requirements and acceptable values |
|---|---|
Use this field to indicate whether the sexual harassment complaint was handled internally, externally, or both. Use the value 'Data unavailable' if your organisation cannot provide this information at this time. Note: as described in Summary of changes between 2023 and 2025(opens in a new window), the ‘Data unavailable’ option for this field will be removed for the 2027 audit. |
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Complainant satisfaction
This field is required for each complaint.
- This field must be populated meaningfully for every complaint record.
- Refer to the requirements and acceptable values for this field below for how to populate this field.
| Definition | Requirements and acceptable values |
|---|---|
Use this field to indicate the complainant's satisfaction with the outcome of their complaint. Assessing satisfaction would be typically expected to occur when the process of handling a formal complaint is closed. Use the value 'Prefer not to say' if the complainant chose not to disclose their satisfaction with the complaint outcome. Use the value 'No outcome / Currently ongoing' for complaints that have not been resolved yet. Use the value 'Data unavailable' if your organisation cannot provide this information at this time. Note: as described in Summary of changes between 2023 and 2025(opens in a new window), the ‘Data unavailable’ option for this field will be removed for the 2027 audit. |
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