Discrimination in Employment

What is discrimination?

Discrimination occurs when someone is treated unfairly or badly in certain respects. Not all discrimination is against the law, even if it is unfair. In Queensland the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 determines what kind of discrimination is unlawful by identifying particular attributes and areas (see below).

Discrimination happens because people have stereotypical or prejudiced ideas or beliefs about other people because they happen to belong to a particular group of people or because they have certain personal characteristics or attributes. This kind of direct discrimination is often the result of failing to treat each person as an individual regardless of their sex, age, race etc.

Discrimination can also happen in a more indirect way. Sometimes treating everybody the same can be unfair because it disadvantages a whole group of people. For example, an arbitrary rule that employees must not wear headress may inadvertently exclude people of particular ethnic or religious origin. Unless such a rule is necessary or reasonable in all the relevant circumstances it will be indirect discrimination and against the law. Indirect discrimination is not usually intentional but is often the result of failing to think about the impact of rules and requirements on different people.

Case Study

Ron, employed in the same job for a number of years, cared for his elderly father. After some time, his father developed symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, and Ron asked his boss if he could have extra time off at lunchtime to go home and make sure his father was OK. He said he didn’t want to leave his father alone for any longer than half a day at a time.

Ron offered to make up the time at the end of the day, so that he was still doing his full-time hours. He said his sister could stay with his father until he got home at night.

The boss refused, saying he wasn’t 'running a charity' and Ron would work the hours he was told.

Ron could lodge a complaint of discrimination on the basis of family responsibilities.

The Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 says that it is against the law to discriminate against people because of their:

family responsibilities
sexuality
gender identity
sex (whether they are female or male)
relationship or parental status (whether they are married, single, widowed, divorced, separated or living with someone as if they were married (de facto, including same sex de facto), and whether they have children or not)
race
age (whether they are young or old)
impairment (whether they have or have had a physical, intellectual, psychiatric or mental disability, injury or illness, including whether they are HIV+, or use a guide dog, wheelchair or some other remedial device)
religious belief or activity
political belief or activity
trade union activity
lawful sexual activity (a lawfully employed sex worker)
pregnancy or breastfeeding
association with or relation to someone who has any of these listed attributes or personal characteristics

Case Study

Six months after Fred began working as a chef his boss discovered that Fred was on medication for schizophrenia. Fred's boss sacked him after learning of his impairment. Fred could make a complaint of direct discrimination to the Commission.

For more information about different kinds of discrimination refer to the Commission’s series of specific discrimination information brochures.

index of Discrimination in Employment