There seems to be no end in sight for sexual harassment cases in the workplace.

The widely-publicized cases involving former IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and a hotel maid in New York, which was dropped due to doubts about the accuser's credibility, and rape charges filed by French journalist Tristane Banon remain hot issues in the media.

Another less celebrated case but definitely an eye-opener concerns a former senior sales consultant of IBM in Melbourne who filed a lawsuit against the firm with the Human Rights Commission several months ago for sexual harassment.

The woman has demanded more than $1 million in compensation for failure of IBM to respond to her repeated complaints of sexual harassment and maltreatment, according to a previous report from ABC news.

The incident has caused the victim to attempt committing suicide and has made her feel useless. She has been without a job since 2009.

Lawyer Siobhan Keating, who acts as the lady's legal counsel, described the incident as one of the worst cases of sexual harassment and that there are a number of high-profile cases at the moment so women across Australia should be aware that they have to stand up if necessary, ABC News reported.

The Sex Discrimination Act of 1984 dictates that sexual harassment is unlawful in certain circumstances but it remains a recurrent problem in the country.

Sexual harassment in the workplace is one of the most common types of complaints received by the Commission under the Sex Discrimination Act.

During the past two years, more than 20% of complaints filed with the Australian Human Rights Commission fell under the category of the Sex Discrimination Act

88% of those complaints were related to sex discrimination in the workplace.

In fact, the broad use of contemporary technologies such as mobile phones, email and social networking websites generates more opportunities for sexual aggravation.

The Commission submitted a report to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee in 2008 regarding the effectiveness of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 in eliminating discrimination and promoting gender equality.

The Senate Committee acted promptly on this move and submitted recommendations to the federal government.

In 2010, the Sex and Age Discrimination Legislation Amendment Bill 2010, which aimed at implementing recommendations in the Senate Report, was introduced in the Australian Parliament.

Early this year, the Sex and Age Discrimination Legislation Amendment Act 2011 was passed expanding the protections against sexual harassment.

This can be seen as a positive development in the light of the case of the former IBM employee and serve as a prevention of future sexual harassment cases against vulnerable individuals.