Dismissed after complaint about racist comments

March 2017

Alice* worked as an Aboriginal Liaison Officer. She told her supervisor that she had been subjected to racist comments when a human resources staff member said, ‘Aboriginal people get everything for free’. After making the internal complaint, Alice faced an increase in performance management and was eventually dismissed.

Alice lodged a complaint of race discrimination with ADNSW.

By the time the conciliation conference was held, Alice had gotten another job. However, she requested that the organisation make a number changes to resolve her complaint: introduce Aboriginal cultural awareness training for staff; increase training and ‘acting up’ opportunities for Aboriginal staff; and establish Aboriginal identified positions.

The company and its new HR officer agreed to the proposal.

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