Employment Age Discrimination In WA

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CoreStaff WA a labour-hire recruitment service has been found to have discriminated against a worker because of his age. A qualified 70-year-old man applied for a grader operator role in 2018 with CoreStaff. The application was forwarded to a Gumala Enterprises, a civil construction transport and mining services contractor.

A Human Resource advisor at Gumala Enterprises replied to the application stating “We had his details already, he applied directly with us. He has all the tickets we are looking for however [his] age is a concern”. The CoreStaff manager replied to this saying “yes will certainly keep looking”. Afterwards, the CoreStaff manager emailed the applicant stating, “no joy with the role at Gumala due to your age”.

The case was taken to the federal court. CoreStaff argued there was no refusal to employ the worker because there was no vacancy. However, the court decided there was a vacancy and CoreStaff refused to employ the applicant because of his age. The court acknowledged that the CoreStaff manager was influenced in by Gumala’s email, stating concerns about the applicant’s age.

Gumala has previously admitted liability to discrimination in this case, and CoreStaff will receive a penalty. This case highlights the consequences for businesses who do not comply with employment legislation. To avoid this ProcessWorx offers recruitment services, for more information contact us on (08) 9316 9896 or enquiries@processworx.com.au

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