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Website: www.jobaccess.gov.au
Anti Discrimination Act 1991
The Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of the following categories:
Impairment – Impairment covers all types of impairment including:
- physical: including the total or partial loss of a person’s bodily functions; the malfunction, malformation or disfigurement of a part of a person’s body;
- psychiatric: including mental illnesses; depression; anxiety; schizophrenia; bipolar disorder; anorexia;
- sensory: including visual impairment and blindness; hearing impairment and deafness;
- other conditions: including learning more slowly; epilepsy; autism and intellectual disabilities.
It does not matter whether a person was born with an impairment or it developed later, or as the result of an injury.
The Act also covers people who previously had an impairment which no longer exists.
The Act also covers impairments related illness or disease, such as hepatitis, AIDS and HIV positivity.
Family Responsibilities – Family responsibilities of a person means the person’s responsibilities to care for or support:
- a dependant child of the person; or
- any other member of the person’s immediate family who is in need of care or support.
Immediate family of a person means:
- the person’s spouse or former spouse; or
- a child of the person or the person’s spouse or former spouse, including an ex-nuptial child, stepchild, adopted child, or past or present foster child of the person or the person’s spouse or former spouse; or
- a parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of the person or the person’s spouse or former spouse.
Spouse of a person means:
- the person’s husband or wife; or
- the person’s de facto partner, whether of the same or different sex
Discrimination
When can discrimination occur? Discrimination can happen:
- to someone applying for a job as an employee
- to a new employee who hasn’t started work
- to an employee at any time during employment.
What is an adverse action?
Adverse action includes doing, threatening or organising any of the following:
- firing an employee
- injuring the employee in their employment, eg. not giving an employee legal entitlements such as pay or leave
- changing an employee’s job to their disadvantage
- treating an employee differently than others
- not hiring someone
- offering a potential employee different and unfair terms and conditions for the job compared to other
For more information on your rights as an employee, click here for Legal Aid Information on Workplace Entitlements
Injury at Work
Your Rights
If someone undergoes a workplace injury, their rights include payments to cover their:
- Wages while they are not fit to work
- Medical expenses and rehabilitation
- Worker’s compensation is a form of insurance payment to employees if they are injured at work or become sick due to their work
- If you have been injured at work, or because of your work, you may be eligible to claim benefits from WorkCover Queensland, or from your employer if they are self-insured
- Click here for a guide to assist you calculate likely compensation benefits
- Types of Injuries covered include:
- Physical injury
- Psychiatric or psychological disorders
- Diseases
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Death from an injury or disease
- Injuries can happen at work, travelling to and from work or while on a break from work.
- If a worker has a work-related injury or disease and can’t work in their usual job, employers cannot use this as a reason to dismiss them within 12 months of the injury/illness
Workers Compensation
For information as to requirements and processes in accessing workers compensation, click here for Legal Aid Queensland Information on Workers Compensation