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Family & Parental Responsibility Discrimination

Under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, family responsibilities mean someone’s responsibility to care for or support a dependent child or another member of their immediate family.

Under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, family responsibilities mean someone’s responsibility to care for or support a dependent child or other members of their immediate family.

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; or
  • the person’s civil partner under the Civil Partnerships Act 2011.
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Discrimination on the basis of family responsibilities can be direct or indirect.

Direct discrimination is treating a person less favorably because of their family responsibilities than someone in similar circumstances without those responsibilities.

For example, an employee is being refused a bonus because she took a care leave to look after his elderly father.

Indirect discrimination may be less obvious. Sometimes a rule or policy seems to treat everyone the same, but in fact, some people end up being treated less favorably. Indirect discrimination happens when there is an unreasonable requirement that people with a certain attribute (or characteristic) have difficulty complying with, compared to others without that attribute.

Employers may discriminate based on family responsibilities when they deny employment or promotions, harass, pay less, or otherwise take negative employment action against an employee because of the employee's family responsibilities. Family responsibilities discrimination can affect almost any employee.

  

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The Connect Legal Team can help you defend yourself and stand up to all forms of workplace discrimination.

Testimonials

I am a single father of two lovely children and of Polynesian heritage, some 2 years ago I scaled back to part-time, but now I want to go back to full time both my kids are at school, but my boss says "there is nothing", but they are hiring many agency casuals. Do you think this is because of my parental responsibilities?
I am the mother of two teenage children, I work as a human resources manager for a large private hospital and recently I missed out on a promotion to a more senior operational role and I could not figure out the reason. My colleague, who was there for one year less than me, received the promotion. Recently my manager said, "Jill is always on time, rarely takes time off work, she is always here until very late, she really puts work first and this is what we need". May Connect Legal advice have I been treated differently because of my parental responsibilities?
I’m a working mother with 2 teenage children and lately, I’ve had to take time off because my teenage son has been experiencing mental health issues. I’ve been very open with my boss and said “My son not coping well, there are issues at school. As a mother, I need to prioritize him in getting through this difficult period.” I also told management, “I need a few days off to accompany my son and get a mental health diagnosis.” My boss said, “that can’t get done, we can only give you half a day off a month.” I explained, “he needs my help, I’m already doing 45 hours of work here and customers are very happy.” He seemed taken aback and said, “We can’t approve it.” I said, “it’s my right to ask for family and parental time off for my son's mental health issues and if you don’t provide time off, I have no other option but to leave.” The next morning, he said, “we can’t give you more than half a day a month off.” By that afternoon I handed in my forced resignation. I understand I can lodge various claims under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 and the Fair Work Act 2009. Please advise me of these rights.
I have worked as a financial account for a large Australian retailer for over 7 years, and I recently took a period of maternity leave for 9 months. At the six-month mark, my manager rang me and explained they were making my position redundant because of operational reasons. I found it very odd and explained I was coming back very soon and they explained they had restructured the finance team and my position was no longer required. Later on, I also found a new job in seek of a junior accountant doing the same things as I do. I rang and explained this and they said that is a junior role. How can Connect Legal help me defend my employment and discrimination rights?
I am a single father of my lovely 9-year-old daughter who had ADHD. Because of her ADHD, she is prone to extreme mood changes and meltdowns, and on these occasions, her school would contact me so that I could take care of her. For this reason, I always have my phone on hand and check it from time to time to make sure that I did not miss any calls. I have explained this several times to my management, however, I am not shown any sympathy or understanding at all. When I have had to leave work suddenly due to my daughter’s meltdowns, I was told “Can’t someone else calm her down?”, “She needs to pull it together”, or “What’s up with her?” I have stood my ground several times and told them not to say such things, however, it never came to an end. Last week, I was terminated for using my phone too much during work hours, which is not true, and the management knew my purpose for having my phone on hand. Connect legal, please advise.
I’m a working mother with 2 teenage children and lately, I’ve had to take time off because my teenage son has been experiencing mental health issues. I’ve been very open with my boss and said “My son not coping well, there are issues at school. As a mother, I need to prioritize him in getting through this difficult period.” I also told management, “I need a few days off to accompany my son and get a mental health diagnosis.” My boss said, “that can’t get done, we can only give you half a day off a month.” I explained, “he needs my help, I’m already doing 45 hours of work here and customers are very happy.” He seemed taken aback and said, “We can’t approve it.” I said, “it’s my right to ask for family and parental time off for my son's mental health issues and if you don’t provide time off, I have no other option but to leave.” The next morning, he said, “we can’t give you more than half a day a month off.” By that afternoon I handed in my forced resignation. I understand I can lodge various claims under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 and the Fair Work Act 2009. Please advise me of these rights.
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