Age discrimination

Legislation:

Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (SA)
Age Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth)

Areas of discrimination on basis of age under SA law

Under the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (SA) it is unlawful to discriminate on the basis of age in the following areas:

education
employment
accommodation
disposal of interest in land
conferral of qualifications
provision of goods and services
membership of associations
advertising

Exemptions

There are exemptions in the following circumstances:

employment in a private household
employment for which there is a genuine occupational requirement that a person be of a particular age, or age group
employment where a person would not be able to adequately perform the work without endangering himself or herself or other persons or respond adequately to emergency situations in connection with the employment in question
compliance with provisions of an award or industrial agreement made under the Industrial Relations Act 1972 (SA) or the Industrial Relations Act 1988 (Cth)
where a provision exists in an award or industrial agreement that imposes a compulsory retirement age
disposal of interest in land by way of will or gift
charities and projects for the benefit of persons of a particular age
sport: exclusion of persons of particular age groups from participation
insurance:
- terms on which an annuity or life insurance may be obtained
- terms on which a person may become a member of a superannuation scheme
- terms on which accident insurance (or any other form of insurance other than life insurance) may be obtained provided it is based on reliable actuarial or statistical data
laws relating to the legal capacity of children

Areas of discrimination on basis of age under Commonwealth law

Under the Age Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth) it is unlawful to discriminate on the basis of age in:

employment and related matters including conferral of qualifications
education
access to premises
provision of goods, services and facilities
disposal of land
administration of Commonwealth laws and programs
requests for information on which age discrimination might be based

Exemptions

There are a number of areas of exemption under the Age Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth), including:

employment for domestic duties in private household
employment where a person is unable to carry out the inherent requirements of the job because of their age; the same exemption applies to qualifying bodies where a person is precluded from carrying out the inherent requirements of a profession or trade because of their age
accommodation, where the provider or a near relative lives on the premises and the accomodation is for no more than 3 other persons
superannuation, insurance and credit
migration and citizenship
taxation
pensions, allowances and benefits
some health programmes
certain acts of religious and voluntary organisations
compliance with specified laws
youth wages or compliance with industrial agreements and awards

Making a complaint

Time limits: the Australian Human Rights Commissioner may decide not to take any action for complaints on acts committed more than 12 months previously. The Equal Opportunity Commission requires a complaint to be made within 6 months of the event being complained of.

Casual shop assistant has hours cut due to age and marital status

Karla, a woman in her forties, worked as a casual shop assistant at a bakery for about 5 years. She noticed that her hours had decreased in the last 12 months, down to only 3-6 hours in some weeks. Karla was told by her employer that her hours had been reduced because, "your partner works full time therefore you don't need the work".

She has also found that the owners had employed other staff through an agency and most of them were 10 years younger than her. She claimed that the owners often told her that her hair was greying and asked her if she wanted to borrow their glasses. Karla felt stressed, alienated from co-workers and started suffering panic attacks.

The owners responded that staff hours vary each week depending on business. Karla had suffered depression for years and could not do some parts of the job because she got so stressed. They also said that Karla refused to work in the mornings or afternoon shifts so extra workers had to be hired to help when they were busy.

Karla stated that she was able to work mornings and afternoons, and that she was capable of performing most duties associated with her position. She also repeated that only young workers were being employed.

Outcome: At conciliation the owners provided a verbal apology to Karla and made a payment of $3,000 for financial compensation.