Inappropriate remarks about ethnicity and religious identity

April 2022

Yousef* is Muslim and has a Palestinian background. He worked as a senior accountant in a human services organisation. 

Yousef’s colleagues would often make inappropriate remarks about his ethnicity and religious identity. They would:

• quiz him about his level of religious commitment
• call him a ‘wog’
• make jokes about Islam and Muslims
• use derogatory terms to describe people of middle eastern background 
• wave the Quran at him whilst mockingly shouting ‘assalamu alaikum’ 
• say that Islam promoted beheading 
• refuse to touch items he had touched
• unfairly scrutinise his work.

Yousef stated that when he made an internal complaint about how he was being treated, he was victimised by his employer when his co-workers retaliated by making unwarranted and vexatious complaints about him.

Yousef then lodged a complaint of race discrimination and victimisation with ADNSW.

The matter was resolved at a conciliation conference when the parties agreed to a: 

• written apology 
• financial settlement
• commitment to continue to roll out comprehensive staff training on bullying and harassment
• change of work location for Yousef. 

Note: The definition of Race in the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) includes ethno-religious or national origin. The term ‘ethno-religious origin’ has previously been held to signify a strong association between a person's or a group's nationality or ethnicity, culture, history and his, her or its religious beliefs and practices.

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