Eligibility

Employers who have not reported previously must register with the Agency for the Gender Equality Reporting program if they have employed in total 100 or more employees for 6 months or more of a reporting period. These months do not need to be consecutive.

• The reporting period of the program is April 1st of the previous year to March 31st of the current year that you are completing the submission.

The Act defines a relevant employer as either:

• Standalone organisations with 100 or more employees, or
• A corporate structure with 100 or more employees in total across all entities.

Definitions

• A standalone organisation is a single ABN employer that has no parent entity and no subsidiaries.
• A corporate structure is a parent organisation (whether employing or not) with one or more employing ABNs as subsidiaries.

Who is covered by these requirements?

The eligibility requirements to report cover all employers, except for state government public sector employers and any associated state owned employers.

• The federal government public sector is covered by these requirements, find more information here: Public sector eligibility

Which employees do I count?

You must count all employees that are employed, this includes employees who are:

• Full-time
• Part-time
• Casual

The only employees who are not counted are:

• Independent contractors who are self-employed
• Employees from a recruitment agency placed in your organisation - they are the employees of the recruitment agency, not the host employer

The Australian Tax Office has compiled information on their website which sets out the differences between an employee and an independent contractor.

How do I register?

The online registration form can be completed from the WGEA Portal homepage.

• An employer can also register if they expect to have 100 or more employees and will stay at or above 100 employees for six months or more within a reporting period. Again, these months do not need to be consecutive.

A corporate structure is defined by majority ownership, with an ultimate parent and one or more subsidiaries considered one ‘relevant employer’ under the Act. This includes global organisations with 100 or more domestic Australian employees in total across all Australian subsidiaries - do not count overseas employees.

• If your corporate group employs in total 100 or more employees – all employing entities must be reported regardless of their individual entity size.
• For global corporate groups – only Australian based domestic entities and their employees are reported in the Gender Equality Report.
• If your group already reports to WGEA and acquires a new subsidiary during a reporting period, you must include the new subsidiary in your submission for that reporting period.

If an employer has previously registered but their employee count drops below 100 in total, they must keep reporting until they have employed fewer than 80 employees in total for 6 or more months of a reporting period (the 12 months from April 1st to March 31st. The months do not need to be consecutive).

• Standalone organisation: the employee total falls below 80 employees for six months or more during a given reporting period.
• Corporate group: the entire corporate structure (sum of all employing entities) falls below 80 employees in total for six months or more during a given reporting period.

Once employee numbers have fallen below 80 in total for six or more months during a given reporting period, please advise the Agency by lodging a support request and include a confirmation of how the total employee count has changed over time. Once confirmed by the Agency, an employer is notified in writing that they are no longer required to report.

• Including anything false or misleading in a report or in the extra compliance information provided is considered non-compliance with the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012.

Even if an employer has told WGEA that they are in receivership or liquidation, they may still need to comply with the Act.

Under section 3 (1) of the Act, you are still a relevant employer if you employ:

• 100 or more people
• 80 or more people, and have previously been covered under the Act.

We will only make exceptions if you have a genuine reason why you cannot report. We may consider:

• the likelihood of your organisation dissolving
• your organisation’s size and whether you will have fewer than 80 employees after planned retrenchments
• the legitimacy of your hardship.

Before we can decide if you still need to report, you must write to us about your circumstances. We will then refer this to WGEA’s Chief Executive Officer for a decision.

An organisation in liquidation is also still technically a relevant employer. But liquidation usually means employees will be dismissed.

• You must confirm with us in writing if your organisation has been liquidated.