What is unlawful discrimination?
Unlawful discrimination is treating people less favourably than others based on a ground covered by the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (the Act) in an area of public life.
Under the Act discrimination occurs under several grounds, however our top three are usually impairment, race and sex.
Unlawful discrimination can happen in various areas of public life, but most complaints we receive are about discrimination in the areas of employment and goods and services.
Under the Act, not all grounds of discrimination can occur in every area of public life. If you want to find out where each ground applies read our Ready Reckoner.
What can I do about it?
At the Commission we believe bystanders can make a difference. If you see unlawful discrimination occurring you can report it to or discuss it with the appropriate person. That might be HR, a manager, a business owner, the president of a club or a property manager. Sometimes it is better for a witness to the behaviour to come forward, rather than the victim. However the Equal Opportunity Commission can only accept a complaint in writing from the aggrieved person (the person who was discriminated against).
If you feel you have been discriminated against you can also discuss this with an appropriate person. If you do not feel comfortable about this, or it has not been well received, you are also able to lodge a complaint with us at the Commission.
You can lodge a complaint online using the online complain form, by downloading the complaint form and sending it in, by sending us an email or by writing us a letter. You can even call us and we can send out a complaint form to you.
Our contact details are on the website, and if you have any questions or want to discuss anything about the complaint process you can call our enquiry line (08) 9216 3900 from Monday to Friday from 9am to 4.30pm.
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