Defence Reserve Service (Protection) Act 2001

A person is liable to a civil penalty if:

an employee, commission agent or contractor of the person harasses a third person for a prohibited reason, or for reasons that include a prohibited reason; and

the third person is a protected co‑worker of the employee, commission agent or contractor because of that employment, commission agency or contract.

Conduct mentioned in paragraph (1)(a) is for a prohibited reason if it is engaged in because the third person:

may volunteer to render defence service; or

is rendering defence service; or

is, or may become, liable to render defence service; or

has previously rendered defence service.

Subsection (1) does not apply if the first person takes all reasonable steps to ensure that his or her employees, commission agents and contractors do not harass protected co‑workers for prohibited reasons.

A person who wishes to rely on subsection (3) in proceedings for a civil penalty order bears an evidential burden in relation to the matter in that subsection: see section 96 of the Regulatory Powers Act.