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The Law Reform Commission has recommended legal changes to substantially narrow the circumstances in which religious educational institutions can discriminate against their workers.

The Albanese Government has until tomorrow to table a long-awaited Australian Law Reform Commission report on tightening discrimination protections for teachers and other workers at religious schools, while the Prime Minister himself has flagged that the controversial legislation will go nowhere without bipartisan support.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency has revealed a NDIS health service, the Energizer battery giant and an investment and logistics company have the largest median total remuneration gender pay gaps, while construction topped the list on an industry basis, under new laws requiring the agency to annually report the performance of companies with 100-plus employees.

The Human Rights Commission and the Law Council have voiced major concerns to a Senate inquiry into a Bill designed to protect workers who bring sexual harassment claims from costs orders in most circumstances, but the ACTU says criticisms are "unfounded".

The FWC has today launched the next stage of its gender pay equity research, in which it will examine a dozen awards covering highly-feminised sectors to uncover indicators of gender-based undervaluation of minimum rates, ahead of the 2023-24 annual wage review.

Legislation introduced to Federal Parliament today to protect workers who bring sexual harassment claims from costs orders in most circumstances marks the "final legislative reform" in implementing the recommendations of the landmark Respect@Work report, according to the Albanese Government.

Employment rights legal centre JobWatch says a client survey suggests most employers are failing to take internal complaints of workplace sexual harassment and discrimination seriously or to adequately protect employees, prompting recommendations to expand positive duty and vicarious liability provisions, and actively monitor compliance.

Queensland Council of Unions secretary Jacqueline King says Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke is "receptive" to calls for new gender equity laws replicating the State's legislation that has "made more of a difference" in its first year than in the previous two decades under the Queensland IRC's equal remuneration principle.

Maurice Blackburn's head of employment and industrial law, Josh Bornstein, says damages for discrimination and harassment "remain persistently low" but he expects an upwards trajectory as their impact has been "laid bare" and expectations are now clearer.

The NTEU is calling for urgent change, after its latest survey found that "s-xual harassment, s-xism, and gender-based bias in tertiary education workplaces continues to be largely ignored and as a result remains firmly entrenched in our universities".