Equal Opportunity Commission SA

Case Study 1

Marcus, from the Philippines, was offered an apprenticeship as a metalworker. Marcus was supervised by Brian, another apprentice who had almost finished his apprenticeship. He also worked with Garry.

Right from the start whenever Marcus asked a question, the response from Brian would be to tell him he was “dumb” or “stupid” and both Brian and Garry would then continue to ridicule him in front of other workers. Marcus tried to ignore this behaviour.

However, during a morning smoko, workers were discussing a TV program about alleged terrorist bases in the Philippines. For the next week Marcus was subjected to regular taunts referring to him as a terrorist or calling him “Bin Laden” as well as having small pieces of metal thrown at him. The abuse always occurred when the owner/manager was away from the workshop.

The abuse continued and because Marcus was the only dark skinned employee in the workshop, he strongly felt that the abuse was racially motivated.

Marcus eventually chose to resign even though the owner contacted him and urged him to return to work. Marcus then made a complaint to the Equal Opportunity Commission and it was assessed that he was discriminated against on the basis of his race.

At a conciliation conference, the owner agreed to pay $2,000 compensation and to give Marcus a written reference and a written apology to him and his family.

Case Study 2

Paul was employed as a hydraulic maintenance technician. About six months after commencing work he sustained an injury to his knee while at work. Surgery was performed after which he was cleared to return to work on modified duties under supervision.

On his return to work, Paul’s duties were changed and he was told that, because he was inexperienced in this field, he would receive training and supervision. However, he was not given any opportunity to do training and was given menial tasks such as mopping/sweeping, emptying bins, sorting, etc. Some of these tasks required bending and lifting which aggravated his injured knee.

Paul claims that he was constantly being watched, reprimanded and sworn at for the smallest mistakes. He was often given incorrect instructions and limited information about the tasks he was asked to perform. Prior to his injury, his employer had not had any issues with Paul’s work performance.

Paul eventually resigned and made a complaint to the Equal Opportunity Commission. The complaint was assessed as discrimination on the basis of his physical impairment.

At a conciliation conference, the employer agreed to pay Paul $5,000 and apologised in writing on behalf of the firm and employees involved in the incidents.