Massive State Government document dump details compo claims

THE State Government sneakily released 75 documents in a seven-hour window late on Friday, including a report containing details of controversial anti-discrimination compensation claims.

A BARBER who refused to cut women’s hair and a builder who declared tiling is “too hard for females’’ have been busted for breaching anti-discrimination laws.

Complaints to the Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland (ADCQ) soared by 13 per cent last year, with 810 claims of sexual harassment or discrimination on grounds ranging from age, sex, race and pregnancy to gender identity and breastfeeding.

The revelations were contained in the commission’s annual report - one of 75 tabled by the government in a seven-hour window between 3-10pm on Friday.

The massive document dump has been slammed by the Opposition.

Deputy LNP leader Tim Mander said it exposed the hypocrisy of the Palasczuk Government’s promises of greater transparency as hypocrisy.

READ TOMORROW’S SUNDAY MAIL FOR MORE ON THE AFTER DARK DOCUMENT DUMP

The ADCQ document revealed one employer was forced to pay compensation to a worker of North African descent, whose supervisor and co-workers called him names such as “frog”, “Borat”, and “boat person”, asked if he had spent time in a detention centre, and mimicked his accent.

The worker also alleged sexual harassment, including jokes about performing oral sex on his supervisor and customers to finalise sales.

A hair transplant service was ordered to pay compensation and apologise to an HIV-positive man it refused to treat due to the risk of needle stick injury.

The owner of a barber shop that refused to cut women’s hair due to shopping centre lease conditions was ordered to attend anti-discrimination training, along with the centre manager.

A woman who applied for a job as a tiler apprentice was paid compensation after a builder told her “the job is very physical and too hard for females’’.

An employer who turned a blind eye to sexist and sexual comments in a male-dominated workplace was ordered to pay compensation to a female worker whose male colleague called her “less of a pussy than the other pussy’’.

And a council paid compensation to a female labourer whose male co-worker told her she should “feed, f**k and leave , and told her to look at porn on his phone.

Two supervisors had told the woman to sit at lunch with her colleague, “shake his hand and sort it out’’, the ADCQ reveals in its latest annual report.

A 64-year-old job-seeker won compensation and an apology after a prospective employer asked for his driver’s licence as part of a criminal record check during an interview.

The man complained that the employer had used the licence to check his date of birth and discriminate against him on the grounds of age.

The employer agreed to pay compensation and change its policy so that only the preferred applicants are asked for a criminal record check, after an interview.

A factory maintenance worker was paid compensation for being sacked after a workplace vaccination made him so ill he could only work light duties.

The ADCQ did not reveal how much money was paid in compensation.