Respected leader Hayden Charles racially profiled at Woolworths store
A young Aboriginal community leader was followed by supermarket staff as he went grocery shopping in Sydney’s south before they rifled through his bag.
St George Shire Standard
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A major supermarket chain has apologised after a respected Aboriginal community leader and Young Citizen of the Year was racially profiled and followed through one of their stores.
Hayden Charles, 21, was followed by a staff member through Woolworths Menai in Sydney’s south on August 23 before he was accosted by several staff members who physically rifled through groceries he had already bought at a different supermarket.
Mr Charles left the register queue when he noticed he was being watched, before he observed the staff member follow him down the aisle and make a phone call.
“I went back to the register I was at and then boom — about five Woolworths staff members were standing around looking at me while they asked to look in my bag and proceeded to look at and touch the items from Aldi I already had,” Mr Charles said.
“I could have told them all my accomplishments but they wouldn’t care — all they see is another black guy with a bag.”
Mr Charles is a respected leader who is involved with the Clontarf Foundation, which helps educate and employ young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men, and the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress.
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He is the Sutherland Shire Young Citizen of the Year for 2019 for his tireless involvement with Aboriginal communities, mental health initiatives and youth engagement.
He also participated in the Sutherland Shire Youth Council, volunteers with the State Emergency Service and Headspace Miranda, and leads youth at Sylvania Uniting Church.
A Woolworths spokesman said the supermarket sincerely regretted Mr Charles felt unwelcome in their store.
“Like many retailers, our teams may ask to check customer bags from time to time in line with our conditions of entry,” the spokesman stated.
“We always aim to do this in a respectful and professional way, and we’ve reiterated the importance of this with our team.”
Fair Trading NSW’s bag check guidelines state stores may conduct bag checks if they post signage stating it is a condition of entry, but cannot touch the items inside.
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“Store personnel are only allowed to look in your bag; they are not allowed to touch the contents of your bag,” the guidelines state.
“However, if you are asked to remove an object in your bag so they can see inside properly you are expected to co-operate.”
Anyone that has not committed an offence who is forcibly detained or searched by shop staff is entitled to make a complaint to police, the store management or Privacy NSW.
The Woolworths spokesman said staff met with Mr Charles to apologise for his experience and hoped to welcome him back to their stores in the future.
Woolworths did not respond to questions about whether staff had been disciplined, though the spokesman confirmed the staff member who followed Mr Charles through the store now works at a different store for reasons unrelated to the incident.
Mr Charles said he also received a $100 voucher from Woolworths.