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After paying more than $360k to settle a common law claim, an employer now has to face additional s-xual harassment and discrimination allegations, a tribunal has ruled.

The employer, among other respondents, failed to meet the "heavy onus" of proving the worker's proceedings should be summarily dismissed as an abuse of process, Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Member Michael Bevan found.

The worker filed the claim against her former employer (Newdimension Australia Pty Ltd) and its director, along with two other companies (Sydenham Grace Pty Ltd and Grace Disability Services Australia Pty Ltd) in October 2021, under the State's Equal Opportunity Act. She accused them of breaches related to an alleged workplace sexual assault and rape, and discrimination on the basis of a pregnancy and its subsequent termination.

The Tribunal heard the worker also filed a proceeding in the County Court against Newdimension Australia, under the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act, which was settled via a release executed in January this year...