EO for You
Grounds of discrimination
The Equal Opportunity Act 1984 sets out the grounds of discrimination which are unlawful. They are:
Unlawful discrimination - a summary of all grounds and areas under the Act (download in MSWord format)
Age – being regarded as too young or too old
Breastfeeding - being asked not to feed, or to use other facilities to breast or bottle feed
Family Responsibility – having a caring role
Family Status – being a relative of a particular person or having the status of being a particular relative
Gender History – having a reassigned gender as certified under the Gender Reassignment Act 2000
Impairment – having a physical, intellectual or mental disability that is current, past or imputed
Marital Status – being single, married, a de facto partner, separated, divorced or widowed
Political Conviction – including a lack of conviction
Pregnancy– being pregnant, having a characteristic associated with pregnancy or generally imputed to persons who are pregnant.
Race – including colour, ethnicity or national origin or descent
Exceptions: sections 50 (d) and 51Racial Harassment – including offensive or insulting comments or other behaviour about a person’s colour, ethnic background or origin
Religious Conviction – including a lack of conviction
Sex – being a man or woman
Sexual Harassment – including unwelcome requests for sexual favours, touching and comments about a person’s private relationships
Sexual Orientation – including heterosexuality, homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality or assumed sexual orientation.
Spent Conviction - the Commission can investigate discrimination on the ground of spent convictions under the Spent Convictions Act 1988.
*The Act may also apply to a relative or a person who has a close relationship to a person affected by these grounds.
The Commissioner for Equal Opportunity also deals with complaints on the ground of spent convictions in the area of employment.
A complaint form can be downloaded here.
Victimisation
Victimisation is also against the law. Victimisation includes threatening, harassing or punishing a person in any way because they have objected about the discriminatory manner in which they have been treated. It also applies to anyone who has made a complaint, or intends making a complaint, under the Act.
Victimisation is also applies to anyone giving evidence about a complaint.
Areas of public life
The Equal Opportunity Act 1984 applies only in certain areas of public life. These are:
- Employment - Recruitment Guide available here
- Accommodation
- Education
- Provision of goods, services and facilities
- Access to places and vehicles
- Disposal of land
- Clubs
- Application forms
- Guidelines for advertisers (pdf ; Word)
- Superannuation and insurance
- Sport