As always, HRwisdom works hard to keep you up to date with good information on how to find, keep, and manage good staff.
Today, we have asked our legal support team to provide you with an update on some of the legal issues and changes surrounding discrimination legislation.
Discrimination Update
Unsurprisingly, with a rapidly aging work force and extensive skills shortage, the Federal Government has announced its intention to get tougher on incidences of age discrimination, by removing the ‘dominant reason’ test from the Federal Age Discrimination Act. Previously, a person who had been discriminated against had to prove the dominant reason for the discrimination was their age, to be successful in a claim under the Act. When the proposed changes become law, the affected person will now only be required to show that their age was one of the reasons for the discrimination, albeit not the dominant reason.
This amendment will bring the Federal age discrimination laws into line with many of the other Federal discrimination laws (for example, which deal with discrimination on the basis of sex, disability or race), as well the anti-discrimination laws which exist in the States and Territories.
As the amendment has bipartisan support, it is expected it will be readily passed and become law, after its introduction into Parliament later this year.
According to the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick:
“This change will send a loud signal to employers and recruitment agencies to think twice about dismissing the value of workers aged over 45.”
Given the increasing skills shortage and rapdily ageing population (where it is envisaged that one in every two Australians will be aged over 50, by 2051), this Government announcement is not unexpected. While policy focus is discrimination against older persons, it should be noted the legislation also applies to persons discriminated against because of age, whatever their age may be.
Of the 417 age discirmination claims received by the Australian Human Rights Commision (formerly known as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission) between mid-2004 and mid-2008, 73 percent of these were employment related. This number is expected to increase once these changes become law, easing the burden of proof for many disgruntled employees.
How Can HRwisdom Help?
To reduce the legal risks associated with discmination claims, it is important that all employers put in place Human Resources strategies to address these issues in the workplace. Appropriate strategies must address all stages of the employment relationship — from pre-employment/recruitment issues, the term of the employment relationship, as well as the termination phase.
As a first step, the preparation and implementation of an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy (which covers anti-discrimination and other EEO issues) is important. You can create an Anti-Discrimination and EEO Policy for your organisation using the one available in the HRwisdom Library.
That Policy was recently updated to ensure it remains current and legally compliant. The HRwisdom Library Anti-Discrimination & EEO Policy deals with discrimination, sexual harassment, bullying and vilfication issues.
Training in Relation to Anti-Discrimination & EEO
Remember that a policy by and of itself won’t elimate the above risks. Employees and managers must be trained in the business’ Anti-Discrimination & EEO Policy and procedures and have regular refresher training (annually or biannually, depending on the size, nature and composition of the workforce).
Compliance training is a very important factor taken into consideration by courts when determining the outcome of an EEO claim.
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