The Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023 has been passed by both houses of Parliament and is awaiting Royal Assent.

UPDATE: Assent given on 11 April 2023.

The Bill amends the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 by introducing new provisions requiring the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) to publish gender pay gap information of employers with more than 100 employees for each reporting period, using the information, including remuneration information, contained in the relevant employer’s public report for that reporting period.

The Bill requires CEOs of relevant employers to cause the Executive Summary and Industry Benchmark Report to be given to all members of their Board. The Industry Benchmark Report must be provided as soon as practicable after being received from WGEA. The Executive Summary Report must be given together with the Industry Benchmark Report, if not already given.

The reforms apply to organisations already required to report annually to the WGEA.

Under the Workplace Gender Equality Act, this includes private sector employers and, from 2023, Commonwealth public sector organisations with 100 or more employees.

WGEA will publish the first set of private sector employer gender pay gaps in early 2024. This will cover the 1 April 2022- 31 March 2023 reporting period.

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