DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT ON THE
BASIS OF CRIMINAL
RECORD
Click here to access:
Submission No. 14 - 'Marion'
Names and details have been changed by the Commission for de-identification
purposes
As an ex-prisoner I am writing to you to briefly outline my experience
of discrimination in employment.
My only criminal conviction was in 1984
for importing drugs into Australia . After being out on bail for 2 years, I served 4 years in prison
and was released in 1990. I have never had any convictions since.
In
September 2002 I lived in country NSW and applied for a job with a government
department. I completed an aptitude test along with
20 other applicants. Then because I scored in the top three
for the test, I was also interviewed and ended up being given the job,
which involved door to door interviewing.
I was given a number of forms
to fill out and was asked about whether I had a criminal record. I
understood that I wasn't obliged to disclose details of my offence
because more than 10 years had elapsed since the conviction; so I said
no to the criminal record question.
About a week or so later I received a training manual and
some more paper work to complete. Included was another
form to complete stating the law regarding who must declare criminal
conviction. After reading that the relevant act stating that anyone
who had served more than 30 months in prison was obliged to declare their
conviction I did declare it. I also phoned the department and discussed
it with them and sent them details of my conviction along with a short
summary of my circumstances at the time.
After another week the department
phoned me and announced that because of my conviction I would not be
able to have the job anymore. The
person I spoke to said that I was too much of a risk and that people
being interviewed might be upset if it ever came to light that I had
a criminal record and had been in prison.
So I went to see a solicitor who
found the relevant HREOC act stating
that it is illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of criminal
conviction. Then my sister who was working for a legal service
at the time wrote to the department and requested that they provide a
statement of reasons for refusing to employ me, so that a judicial review
could take place.
Some weeks later the department wrote to me and said that
they'd decided I could have the job after all if I provided 3 character
references to say that I was of good character. I resented doing
this as I felt that this in itself amounted to discrimination but I did
it anyway and was given the job back.
I found all this very interesting
as I'd known other people who declared their criminal record when they
applied for a job but they did not get the job. It was hard to
prove discrimination on the basis of criminal record for them, but for
me it wasn't because I was clearly told that my criminal conviction was
the reason the department was taking the job from me.
If you need any documentation
to confirm this story or to clarify any of these details, I can forward
these on to you.
I would just like to add that despite being offered my
job back I refused to take it on the basis of the earlier discrimination
by the department. I
decided I did not want to work with people who would hold an 18 year
old conviction against me - the implications were too great. |