What Is Discrimination Harassment

What is discrimination harassment? It describes harassment that happens because of a protected attribute, such as race, sex, age, disability or religion, rather than harassment with no such link.

The distinction is not academic. General rudeness or bullying is dealt with under work health and safety and Fair Work provisions. Once the conduct is tied to a protected attribute it also engages anti-discrimination law, which opens different pathways, different bodies and different remedies.

It also changes the employer’s position. A single incident can be enough, where bullying requires repetition, and reasonable management action is no answer to it.

In practice this means the classification question is worth asking early. Why was this person targeted? If the answer touches an attribute, the matter is more serious than it first appeared.

The Australian Human Rights Commission covers the protected attributes. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s EEO training course and workplace bullying course.