Discrimination

What is discrimination?

Discrimination occurs when adverse action is taken against a person because of the following attributes of the person:

• Race
• Colour
• Gender
• Sexual preference
• Age
• Physical or mental disability
• Marital status
• Family or carer’s responsibilities
• Pregnancy
• Religion
• Political opinion
• National extraction or social origin

What is not discrimination?

Treating someone differently is not necessarily discrimination. Some different treatment such as general performance management may not be discrimination issue. In terms of the Fair Work Act 2009 an action is only considered adverse action if it occurs due to one or more of the above attributes (race, sex, age, disability, etc.). If this is not the basis of the action, it may not be considered an act of discrimination.

What is “adverse action”?

Adverse action can include action that is taken for a discriminatory reason. 
Adverse action taken by another WIRES member includes doing, threatening or organising any of the following:

• Dismissal from a BMC, Committee, Team or from WIRES
• Injuring another member 
• Altering a volunteers position to their detriment
• Discriminating between one volunteer and other volunteers
• Refusing a person a place on a committee, BMC, team etc.

What do I do if I think I’ve been discriminated against in my WIRES volunteer activities?

WIRES has a grievance policy and a Volunteer Support Manager (VSM) to provide advice or information, or assist members with matters of this type. 
Further information is available here

Acknowledgement

Australian Government Fair Work Ombudsman