Denied a permanent role to avoid future payment of maternity leave

September 2021

Maya* was a female contract worker in a male-dominated workplace. She applied for a permanent position and was told that she was unsuccessful because she did not have the necessary trade qualification.

Maya had worked as a contractor in an identical role without the need for the trade qualification. She believed her employer unreasonably required the successful applicant for the permanent position to have a trade qualification to ensure that she would not get the position.

Maya felt her employer did not want to employ her in the permanent role because they knew she wanted to have a family and they would be required to pay maternity leave. Maya made a complaint of sex discrimination with ADNSW.

At the conciliation conference, Maya’s employer did not agree that they had discriminated against Maya. However, they agreed to pay her an amount of $6500 which Maya accepted and resolved the complaint.

*Name has been changed to protect the privacy of the individual.