Information for workers

What are my rights under the Act?

If you usually work in Victoria there are rules about the use of NDAs for workplace sexual harassment. These rules started on 1 July 2026 and are intended to protect workers who have experienced sexual harassment at work or in connection with work.

The law recognises the power imbalances between workers and employers when negotiating NDAs and provides protections to stop workers being forced to sign an NDA.

An NDA that stops you from talking about your experience of workplace sexual harassment is not legal unless certain rules are met. These are called ‘preconditions’ and each one must be met for an NDA to be legal.

What are the preconditions?

There are six preconditions that apply to NDAs that stop you from:

talking about your experience of workplace sexual harassment or
naming the person who harassed you (if they were over 18 at the time of the harassment)

These are:

You cannot be asked to sign an NDA that prevents you from talking about your experience of workplace sexual harassment, including who harassed you (if that person was over 18 at the time).
Your employer, the person who harassed you (respondent), and their representatives cannot suggest or ask you to sign an NDA of this kind.
Only you can raise the option of this type of NDA. You may want this if, for example, you wish to keep certain details private such as your identity and what happened to you. Your request for an NDA may be verbal or written.
If you request and want to agree to an NDA, it must be because you genuinely want confidentiality and not because you feel pressured to request or agree to an NDA. If you request confidentiality and then change your mind before you sign the NDA, you should tell the other parties to the NDA (for example, your employer or their legal representatives). It's OK to change your mind.
If you are feeling pressured or unable to tell the other party that you have changed your mind, you can seek legal assistance.
You must have at least 21 days to review the NDA before signing it, unless you request that the review period is shorter, or you decide you don’t need any time to review the document before you sign it. The 21-day review period is the minimum amount of time you must be given. This means that the other party may agree to give you more time to review the NDA if you need it.
It is recommended that you seek legal advice before signing an NDA to make sure you understand what it means for you and the other party (for example, your employer or the respondent). It's OK if, during this review period, you change your mind and don't want the NDA. You can also request or negotiate changes to the NDA if you want to.
Before signing the NDA, each party to it, including you, must acknowledge that the above preconditions have been met. This is done by signing an Acknowledgement Form.
You should only sign this acknowledgement form if you agree that the preconditions have been met.
You must be given a copy of the signed acknowledgement form and the signed NDA. If you are not provided with a copy of the signed acknowledgement form or signed NDA, you may wish to seek legal advice regarding your rights and options.
Your employer, the respondent or their legal representative must not pressure you into asking for, or signing, an NDA. You should only agree to an NDA if you asked for it, and you truly want one.
Some examples of undue, or unfair, pressure or influence could include:
- Being told you will receive more money if you request an NDA, or less money if you do not request an NDA
- Being told you will not be provided with a work reference unless you request an NDA
- Your employer telling you ‘you won’t get a job in the industry again’ if you do not request an NDA
- Your employer telling you they won’t renew your work visa unless you sign an NDA.

What can I do if the preconditions have not been met?

If you have been given an NDA to sign, and you think that any of the preconditions have not been met, you can refuse to sign it. You may wish to get legal advice about your options.

If you have signed an NDA and believe that any of these preconditions have not been met, you can give your employer (and the respondent, if they are a party to the NDA) a Notice of Breach of Preconditions.

What is a breach notice?

A breach notice is a notice that informs the other party to the NDA that you believe that certain precondition(s) were not met. If you wish to issue a breach notice you must use the Notice of Breach of Preconditions form.

You can give the notice to the other party by hand, email or registered post. If one of the parties is your employer, you should give the notice to:

the person nominated in your NDA to accept the notice on behalf of the employer; or
if no one is nominated to accept the notice, it should be sent via registered post to the company's usual or last known registered address or primary place of business, addressed to the Proper Officer.

What happens after the breach notice is sent?

After receiving a breach notice, the other party has 30 days to decide what to do. If they don’t agree, they can apply to the Industrial Division of the Magistrates' Court of Victoria to challenge the notice.

If they do not apply within 30 days:

the NDA will not be enforceable against you.

If they do apply within 30 days:

the Court will decide whether the preconditions were met. You must continue to comply with the NDA until the Court says otherwise.

You may wish to seek legal advice or support during this process. For further information about how to find legal advice please see the 'where you can get help' section below.

What happens if the NDA is not enforceable? Will I be able to talk about what happened to me?

If the NDA is not enforceable against you (meaning it is not legal), you will be able to talk about:

details of the workplace sexual harassment; and
the name of the person who harassed you

If you agreed in the NDA to keep anything else confidential, you will be required to keep this information confidential. This includes information about:

the amount of any financial compensation paid to you (for example settlement money); and/or
the name of the person who harassed you if they were under 18 at the time of the sexual harassment.

If the NDA is part of a broader agreement (such as a settlement agreement), the rest of the agreement will also continue to apply.

The six preconditions don’t apply to some matters

You can be asked to sign an NDA to keep confidential:

any financial compensation paid to you (for example, settlement money); and/or
the name of the person who harassed you if they were under 18 at the time at the time of the sexual harassment.

The preconditions don’t apply to NDAs about these two matters.

If you are asked to sign an NDA about these matters, it is your choice whether you agree to it.

Who can I speak to if I enter into an NDA?

If you entered into an NDA after 1 July 2026 that meets all the preconditions, the NDA cannot prevent you from sharing certain information with specific people or organisations if you want to. This is called a ‘permitted disclosure’ and means that you can talk to people such as Victoria Police, medical and legal professionals about what happened to you.

You will not be breaching your NDA if you make a permitted disclosure to any person or organisation on the list, regardless of what is written in your NDA.

The tables below list the different types of information that you can share with certain people and organisations.

Table 1 - General

You can always share information about your experience of workplace sexual harassment with the people listed in this Table 1 without breaching your NDA (regardless of what the NDA says). You can also share the name of the person who harassed you with the people in this Table 1, but only if the harasser was 18 years or older at the time of the harassment. However, when sharing information with anyone in this Table 1, you cannot share information about the amount of financial compensation (for example, settlement money) that was paid to you, or the name of the person who harassed you if they were under 18 at the time.
✓	An Australian legal practitioner (for example a lawyer/solicitor/barrister) for the purposes of obtaining legal advice
✓	A Victorian WorkCover agent
✓	An officer or employee of a registered trade union for the purposes of obtaining advice or assistance in relation to the workplace sexual harassment (for example your union organiser or industrial officer)
✓	Your employer or potential employer for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining work
✓	A friend or family member who has agreed to keep the information confidential for the purposes of obtaining personal support
✓	The Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC)
✓	An integrity body, other than the Fair Work Commission, within the meaning of the Independent Broad-based Anti‑corruption Commission Act 2011
✓	A Joint Investigatory Committee within the meaning of section 3 of the Parliamentary Committees Act 2003 or a sub‑committee within the meaning of section 3(1) of that Act
✓	A mental health and wellbeing professional (such as a medical practitioner, registered psychologist, specialist sexual assault worker, paramedic or nurse) for the purposes of obtaining mental health or psychological support or treatment
✓	A minister of religion for the purposes of obtaining religious guidance or support
✓	The National Anti-Corruption Commission
✓	The Office of Public Prosecutions
✓	A registered medical practitioner for the purposes of obtaining medical treatment.
✓	The Victims of Crime Financial Assistance Scheme
✓	WorkSafe Victoria
✓	The Victorian Legal Services Board
✓	The Victorian Legal Services Commissioner
✓	Victoria Police

Table 2 - Certain government bodies

Table 3 – Financial persons and organisations (bodies)

Ending an NDA after 12 months

If you have signed an NDA that prevents you from talking about:

your experience of workplace sexual harassment; and/or
who harassed you (if that person was 18 years or older at the time)

and want to end the NDA, you can do so any time after 12 months from the date it was entered into.

This right to end an NDA only applies to agreements signed after the law started on 1 July 2026.

You must give the other parties to the NDA at least 7 days' written notice that you want to end the NDA. You must use the Notice of Termination of Workplace Non-Disclosure Agreement form.

You can give the notice to the other party/parties by hand, email or registered post. If one of the parties is your employer, you should give the notice to:

the person nominated in your NDA to accept the notice on behalf of the employer; or
if no one is nominated to accept the notice, it should be sent via registered post to the company's usual or last known registered address or primary place of business, addressed to the Proper Officer.

If you choose to end your NDA, you do not have to repay any settlement money that you received. You also cannot be asked to pay money to the other party as compensation for ending the NDA.

What happens if I end the NDA?

If you decide to end your NDA, you will be able to share information about what happened to you, and who harassed you (if they were over 18). If the NDA also required other parties to keep this information confidential, they will also be able to share this information if you decide to end the NDA.

You may wish to seek legal advice about the implications of ending an NDA. This may include advice on protecting yourself from defamation risks. Defamation is where a person causes serious harm to another person’s reputation by publishing material about them that changes the way people feel about them. Publishing includes speaking, writing, drawing, photographing or blogging. Please visit the Victoria Legal Aid website for more information.

If an NDA is part of a broader agreement (such as a settlement agreement), the rest of the agreement will continue to apply if you end the NDA. For example, if you have agreed to keep confidential:

the amount of any financial compensation paid to you (for example settlement money); and/or
the name of the person who harassed you if they were under 18 at the time of the harassment

you will be required to keep this information confidential even if you end an NDA. You can only end an NDA that covers this information if the other party has expressly given you that right in the NDA that you signed.

Where you can get help

Assistance or support relating to workplace sexual harassment

If you have experienced sexual harassment, there are a number of services available to support you.

If you feel unsafe right now or need immediate support:

Call 1800RESPECT (national sexual assault hotline) on 1800 737 732 – available 24/7
Call the Sexual Assault Crisis Line on 1800 806 292 – available weeknights 5pm to 9am, weekends and public holidays
Rainbow Sexual, Domestic and Family Violence Helpline
Call Lifeline on 13 11 14 - available 24/7
Visit the Sexual Assault Services Victoria website to find your local specialist sexual assault service
Call Victoria Police on 000 - available 24/7
Speak to your local GP.

If you have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace, you have a range of options and support services available to report the incident:

Your manager or human resources department
WorkSafe Advisory on 1800 136 089 (available 8.00am – 5.30pm Monday to Friday)
Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC) on 1300 292 153 for information about your rights and options
VEOHRC complaint form for help resolving a complaint of sexual harassment (visit Complaints | Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission)
VEOHRC anonymous reporting tool to report the sexual harassment without making a formal complaint (visit Community reporting tool | Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission)
VEOHRC sexual harassment support and response tool to find safe, anonymous answers to questions about harassment at work (visit Respond to sexual harassment | Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission)
Victoria Police – you can contact your local police station or your local Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team (SOCIT)
Fair Work Ombudsman on 13 13 94
Fair Work Commission on 1300 799 675

WorkSafe Victoria and VEOHRC are working together to regulate work-related sexual harassment. Please visit WorkSafe Victoria and the VEOHRC website for more information on reporting channels and support available.

How to seek legal advice

You can seek legal support from:

Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) - VLA offers legal advice on workplace sexual harassment – you can call VLA Legal Help line 1300 792 387 or email equalitylaw@vla.vic.gov.au.
Community legal centres – Community legal centres provide free, confidential legal help to people in need (visit the Federation of Community Legal Centres VIC website to find your local centre).
Your union - – Unions represent the interests of workers, and provide information, support and representation. Visit the Australian Unions website to find your union.
A lawyer – The Law Institute of Victoria (LIV) is the peak membership organisation for solicitors in Victoria. Visit the LIV website for helpful links and legal practitioner directories.

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Law, crime & justice

Updated 1 July 2026

You can always share the amount of any financial compensation you will or have received (for example, settlement money) to the financial persons and organisations (bodies) in this Table 3 without breaching your NDA.
✓	Centrelink (Services Australia)
✓	A financial advisor for the purposes of obtaining financial advice.
✓	A tax agent for the purposes of obtaining tax advice.

You can always share the following information to the people listed in this Table 2 without breaching your NDA: details about the sexual harassment provided that you do not share the following information (unless the NDA says that you can): the name of the person who harassed you (regardless of their age) the name of your employer the amount of any financial compensation you will or have received (for example, settlement money) in respect of the sexual harassment.
✓	Australian Human Rights Commission
✓	Fair Work Commission
✓	Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman
✓	Public Sector Gender Equality Commissioner
✓	Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission