Policy Bulletin 2025/6: Civil Law ERA and ELA policy – employment disputes 

9 July 2025

Legal Aid NSW CEO has approved ending the Respect at Work ELA and ERA policy as the tied funding for the Service ended on 30 June 2025. Legal Aid NSW will continue to provide Extended Legal Assistance (ELA) and Early Resolution Assistance (ERA) services for unlawful discrimination and sexual harassment employment disputes under existing ELA and ERA policies.  

Background                                       

In 2022, Legal Aid NSW received National Legal Assistance Partnership funding to establish the Respect at Work Legal Service (RAWLS) to provide legal advice, assistance and representation services to people who have experienced unlawful discrimination or sexual harassment at work. The RAWLS conducted negotiations with employers and attended conciliations at the Fair Work Commission, Anti-Discrimination NSW and the Australian Human Rights Commission about complaints of sexual harassment and discrimination at work.

From 1 July 2025, the RAWLS funding will become part of baseline funding under the new National Access to Justice Partnership 2025-2030 (NAJP).  Legal Aid NSW will merge services provided by the RAWLS with the Workplace Rights Service.

Legal Aid NSW will continue to provide services for unlawful discrimination and sexual harassment matters under the Employment Disputes ELA and ERA policy, but with different eligibility requirements:

• A means test applies to some eligible applicants in Employment dispute matters: see Civil Law ELA and ERA policy, and
• An applicant needs to earn $80,000 or less per annum (and pro rata for part time) to be eligible under the employment law ELA and ERA policy.  This ensures we are targeting the client cohort we want to assist.

Start date

The change applies from 9 July 2025.

Contact

For further information contact the Client Eligibility Unit at: T-CEU@legalaid.nsw.gov.au.