The Commission for Gender Equality in the Public Sector has released guidance material on the Commissioner’s dispute resolution function and announced the five successful grantees of its Inaugural Research Grants Round.
In a statement, the Commission said the Commissioner had the power to help organisations resolve systemic gender equality disputes, including practices or policies that disproportionately promoted people of a certain gender to specific roles, or pay inequality based on gender.
It said the dispute resolution service was available to certain public sector organisations (as set out in the Gender Equality Act 2020) that had a gender equality clause in their enterprise agreement or workplace determination that expressly provided for the Commissioner’s involvement.
“The purpose of this function is to support systemic change in organisations,” the Commission said.
It said the Dispute Resolution Function Guidance Note provided information on when a matter could be referred to the Commissioner; what type of matter could be referred; the steps that should be taken before referring a matter; the process of referring a matter and what would happen once it was received; representation; confidentiality obligations; and possible resolution outcomes and recommendations.
The Commission also announced the four academic teams and one public sector collaboration that were successful in its inaugural funding round, Mind Tribes (with Monash, the Diversity Council of Australia, the Victorian Public Service Women of Colour Network and the Community and Public Sector Union); University of Melbourne; RMIT University; and Monash.
It said projects would cover a range of topics, including an investigation of the circumstances that led to the establishment of the Gender Equality Act; international best practice in organisational gender equality; and how organisations could effectively remove barriers to equality for culturally and linguistically diverse women in public sector workplaces.
“They also focus on diverse organisations and strategies, including working with local councils to develop training that supports gender-sensitive placemaking and understanding how the transport sector has navigated the requirements of the Act to date,” the Commission said.
The Commission’s Dispute Resolution Function Guidance Note can be downloaded at this PS News link.
