Question

Nazira is employed as a Malaysian chef at Gossip Gees restaurant at South Bank, which is owned by George Calamari. Her supervisor, Charlie, greatly enjoys Nazira’s company, and touches her hair at every opportunity and continually asks her to have sexual relationship with him. Nazira greatly dislikes this, and has asked Charlie to stop or she will make a complaint. One day in the restaurant kitchen, Charlie puts his arm around Nazira’s waist. She was furious, left the kitchen and walked straight to the manager George Calamari who was at the restaurant bar. George did not take her complaints seriously because Charlie is his cousin. George said to Nazira, “We took a gamble on you because you are supposed to be a brilliant chef. I should have known better than to hire a Malaysian woman. You’re all the same; you’re so sensitive and take offence at everything. You can’t work in a kitchen if you’re going to be offended by every little thing that happens! Get out of here, you’re fired! We should never hire Malaysian women to work in this restaurant". As a result of being fired by George Calamari and enduring the humiliation of his criticism, Nazira is depressed and according to her doctor, she will not be fit to undertake any work for at least a month. Question 5 Using only the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld) and the supporting common law, advise Nazira as to whether she can bring a complaint against George for direct and/or indirect discrimination. (You are NOT required to discuss exemptions, vilification, vicarious liability, procedure or remedies). Question 6 Nazira would like to know if she can sue Charlie for touching her body, and for his suggestive comments when she was working at the restaurant. Advise Nazira on this issue using only the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld) and the supporting common law. As part of your answer, you should discuss the procedure Nazira must follow to lodge a claim, and what remedies (if any) are available to Nazira. (You do NOT need to discuss direct or indirect discrimination, exemptions, or vicarious liability for this question.)

Answer 1

What is Anti- Discrimination Act 1991?

This law provides protection against Sexual harassment and any other unfair practises or unfair discrimination.

It is the act of the parliament of Queensland which was passed on 3rd December, 1991.

5) In this case, Nazira's Manager George Calamari has done direct discrimination with nazira.

Here, when Nazira goes to his manager Geroge to complain about the behaviour of Charlie, he does not take her complaint seriously and says- "I should have known better than to hire a Malaysian woman. You’re all the same; you’re so sensitive and take offence at everything. We should never hire Malaysian women to work in this restaurant". Not only this, he also fired Nazira.

Which means that here is a direct discrimination on the basis of sex, gender.

According to Anti discrimination act and, The common law of anti discrimination, "under federal and state laws it is against the law for employers to discriminate employees or allow any type of discrimination or harrassment."

With this Nazira can file a complaint against his manager George.

6) In this case, Nazira's Supervisor Charlie greatly enjoys Nazira's company, and touches her hair at every opportunity and continually asks her to have sexual relationships with him which Nazira really Dislikes. This clearly means that this is the case of Sexual Harassment done by Charlie to Nazira. And nazira can file a suit against charlie. Nazira can file a lawsuit against the employer or manager for any type of harassment and the damages which have been caused due to this (Here loss of job of nazira because of the offence done by charlie).

If Any person wants to take action under Anti discrimination act 1991, then they can do either by themselves or through an agent or through a person appointed on their behalf.

✓The complaint should be made in good faith.

✓It should be in the interests of justice to accept the complaint.

• Writing a formal letter is easiest and most effective if there is Unacceptable behavior of a person, and providing details of each incident that occurred
• It should state the complainants address and sufficient details of the case.
• Complains should be made within one year of the action complained of.

Or, before all this, Complaints can be filed against such people to the Human resource Department. The Human resource director is always responsible for the safety of the employee and must keep a check on all the activities which are prevailing inside his/her office. And the HR director must cooperate with the victim in such cases.

Other than lodging a claim other remedies, which are available for Nazira can be

• Compensatory damages- she can ask for the compensation of the damages which were caused by charlie's behaviour. Here, after the incident and losing the job, Nazira is depressed, so she can ask for compensation for the distress caused to her.
• Medical expenses, psychological care.
• Monetary compensation, as she has lost her job.