The following is an extract from the Human Rights Act.:
Examples of age discrimination could include:
• not employing certain people because they won’t ‘fit in’ with other employees because of their age
• not employing younger workers because of assumptions that they will quickly move on to another job
• advertising a position for someone aged ‘under 30’ to join a ‘dynamic, young team’
• making choices around redundancy, or forcing someone to retire, because of his or her age, or
• harassing or bullying a person because of his or her age.
Should we infer the following?
It is OK to bully or harrass a person, so long as it is not because of age, sex, race or disability.
It is OK to fire someone because somebody says they don’t “fit in.”
Also we are aware that:
A person has no right to conceal their age/date of birth from their boss or workmates even when they know that may cause them to be fired.
When advertising a job, the hirer is not permitted to advertise that they are happy to employ mature people (even though most employers would not.)
• This makes it hard for mature people seeking work in big cities. They may not manage to apply for every available job, and may, in fact, miss those that are willing to hire them.
• This leads to the ridiculous situation where claims are made that there is a shortage of hospitality workers; jobs done, throughout history, by mature women, that now are only given to young people.
Unless one also quotes all of the other clauses in the human rights act(s) that are relevant and considers them collectively rather than individually I am not sure what can be inferred, if anything.
This isn’t the case…and some big business and government agencies have equal employement opportunity statements on job advertisements indicating their policies for hiring.
Even if a employer decided to include such wording on a job application, it is redundant information as they are required by law to assess each and every application on its merit without bias or prejudices.
You can choose not to tell anyone your age. None of my resumes have ever included age or DOB.
however, an employer will need to see a document that ascertains your residency rights and therefore employment rights.
Passport, birth certificate, drivers licence all contain DOB so how can you hide it from an employer?
There are some situations where age matters for employment status. In some cases the type of work you may perform and the rates you are paid depend on age.
That is true. For the very young there are different rates of pay until you hit 21.
I also forgot about the Government wage subsidies to employers who hire specific age and other demographics, like these. https://business.gov.au/grants-and-programs/Wage-subsidies
When applying for a job it depends. Applying to work in the liquor or gaming industries there are age requirements. Not the only examples.
In accepting an offer as Seek point out there are many reasons why dob will need to be supplied. There are also numerous areas of employment where proof of identity is an integral requirement. Also consider for professional qualification and licenses one risk is the evidence is a valid document belonging to a person other than the applicant.
The requirements on an employer to secure personal information such as a dob are legislated.
Another that used to apply (I guess it still does but I am unsure) is juniors cannot do some physical tasks such as moving heavy objects. The assumption seems to be that young people are not only weaker but also cannot successfully operate equipment that may enable the limits of their puny muscles to be overcome.
