Age
Everyone is entitled to equal access to work and equal treatment at work, regardless of their age. Treating someone unfairly at work because of their age is unlawful.
Here’s an example:
| Phuong, who was 18, had a couple of years experience working in a clothing store when she applied for a job at a new fashion outlet. The manager said they didn’t want to employ teenagers because they’re not mature enough to cope with the hassles of customer service. Phuong didn’t think it was fair that the manager was considering her age, but not her experience. This is age discrimination. |
Equal opportunity laws do not affect specific ages at which you are legally allowed to do things. For instance, laws that set ages for voting, driving, buying alcohol, seeing certain films, consenting to your own medical treatment, etc. are not affected by the general law against age discrimination.
The law also allows juniors to be paid lower wages in some situations. Here’s an example:
| Mia’s wages were less than the other staff at work. This is because Mia is 16 and all the other staff are older. Under the award that provides pay rates, different pay rates apply to ‘junior’ employees. Junior employees are those under the age of 21. |
This is not age discrimination under the Equal Opportunity Act. However, it would be age discrimination if Mia were sacked when she turned 21 because her employer didn’t want to pay higher wages.
To find out whether you are being paid the correct wage, go to the Fairwork Ombudsman website.
Last updated on Mon, 08/23/2010 - 11:36.
