Offensive comments made by customer

October 2017

Aiden* is a manager for a financial institution.

A customer of the institution made offensive comments to one of Aiden’s staff about Aiden’s sexuality.

The staff member immediately told Aiden about the discriminatory comments made by the customer. Aiden made a complaint using the financial institution’s internal grievance process.

He was told his employer would write to the customer however no evidence was provided to Aiden to show this had occurred.

Dissatisfied with the internal handling of his complaint, Aiden lodged a complaint of homosexual discrimination with ADNSW.

At conciliation, the employer agreed to provide Aiden with a copy of the letter to the customer; to give him a written apology for not dealing with the internal complaint in a more timely manner and to re-educate staff about procedures in relation to aggressive customers.

Aiden was satisfied with the outcome and the matter was resolved.

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