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Overview — Equal employment opportunity/anti-discrimination laws
Heidi Roberts, Partner and Amanda Loftus, Lawyer, Corrs Chambers Westgarth
Introduction
In addition to ensuring that discrimination does not occur in advertising, employers and recruitment agencies must be careful to avoid breaches of federal, state and territory anti-discrimination legislation at all other stages of the recruitment process — ie employment policies, application questions and forms, screening of applicants, interviews, the selection of successful candidates, and the terms and conditions on which employment is offered. In some instances, anti-discrimination protections under the relevant legislation extend beyond potential employees to include (for example) contractors, volunteers and members of a partnership.
See Introduction to equal employment opportunity/anti-discrimination laws.
Prohibited grounds of discrimination
Anti-discrimination legislation exists at federal level and in all states and territories in Australia.
See Prohibited grounds of discrimination.
Dispute resolution and remedies in discrimination matters
Federal, state and territory anti-discrimination statutes contain provisions detailing the process to be followed when a complaint of unlawful discrimination is made. The complaint-handling and dispute resolution provisions of these statutes vary, but the following features are common to all jurisdictions:
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lodgment of a complaint with an anti-discrimination commission (or similar body);
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investigation of the complaint by the anti-discrimination commission (or similar body);
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unless the complaint is declined, attempted resolution of the complaint by conciliation in the anti-discrimination commission (or similar body); and
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if conciliation is inappropriate or does not resolve the complaint, the complaint may be referred to an anti-discrimination tribunal, or a court, for hearing and determination.
See Dispute resolution and remedies in discrimination matters.
Recruitment-specific provisions
Federal, state and territory anti-discrimination statutes contain specific provisions prohibiting discrimination in relation to advertising and the offering of employment. These provisions also extend to prohibiting discrimination in relation to employment policies, pre-employment questions, interviews, and application forms and other forms (such as medical forms and criminal records check forms) used in recruitment and pre-employment processes.
See Recruitment-specific provisions.
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