Eligibility & compliance

The Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (Cth) (the Act) requires relevant private sector employers to register for the Gender Equality Reporting program and lodge data to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) annually.

The annual reports consist of:

• an online questionnaire related to your organisation’s policies, strategies, and actions on gender equality
• two excel worksheets designed to collect information about workforce composition; salaries and remuneration; and employee appointments, promotions, resignations, and parental leave.

Reports are lodged in the WGEA Employer Portal during the two-month lodgement period: 1 April to 31 May. 

An employer will comply with the Act if they: 

• lodge an annual report with all mandatory data before the submission deadline (including where an extension has been granted) 
• have their CEO or Agency/Department head (or equivalent) review and approve the submission 
• do not include anything false or misleading in the submission, or in the additional information WGEA requests
• inform/share relevant parts of their submission with their governing body, employees, shareholders and employee groups
• provide a copy of the Executive Summary and Industry Benchmark Report to each member of the employer’s governing body (if any) as soon as practicable after receiving the documents.

Employers with 500 or more employees are also required to have a policy or strategy in place against each of the six Gender Equality Indicators to remain compliant.

WGEA can review an employer’s compliance: 

• by asking for more information 
• by reviewing randomly selected submissions
• after assessing comments their employees or employee organisations have made. 

Employers with 100 or more employees are 'relevant employers' and are required to report to WGEA. However, the Act also allows for fluctuations in the workforce. This means that employers must continue to submit a gender equality report to WGEA until their workforce falls below 80 employees.

A 'relevant employer' can be a standalone company, a corporate group, or a subsidiary of a corporate group. An employer's ABN is used to determine the number of employees.

The Act outlines an employer’s obligations as well as consequences for non-compliance. If an employer does not demonstrate compliance:

• We can name an employer in a report to the Minister that is tabled in both Houses of Parliament.
• We can name an employer publicly by electronic or other means.
• An employer may not be eligible to tender for contracts under Commonwealth and some state procurement frameworks and may not be eligible for some Commonwealth grants or other financial help.

Please refer to the WGEA Compliance Strategy for information about all of your compliance requirements. 

Organisations tendering for government contracts may need to satisfy a requirement to be compliant with the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012.

For organisations that met all compliance requirements

• Your compliance letter fulfils this requirement, a copy of your most recent letter can be downloaded from the 'Data and Insights' tab within the Employer Portal.

For private sector organisations with 100 or more employees who are not registered with WGEA

• You will need to register to report, and you will be provided with a letter confirming the first date your report is due. This can then be provided to the organisation you are tendering with.

For organisations that are not required to report as they have less than 100 employees across their entire structure

• You will need to advise the organisation you are tendering with that you are not a relevant employer and are therefore not required to report to WGEA.