Jewish customer seeks written apology from Officeworks and employee who refused service

A Melbourne Officeworks employee may be held personally liable after they refused to perform a laminating job for a Jewish man in footage circulated early last year.

An Officeworks employee who refused to laminate a copy of the Australian Jewish News because they were “pro-Palestine” could be held personally liable for their actions under discrimination laws.

The employee, whose name is suppressed, made national headlines last year, when a Jewish customer filmed them refusing a routine lamination job in the months following the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

They said they were allowed to deny work and chose to do so because they were “pro-Palestine”.

The Jewish customer, whose name is also suppressed, launched proceedings under the Equal Opportunity Act against Officeworks in May last year, and on Monday succeeded in having the employee joined as a party to the proceedings, meaning they could potentially be held personally liable for their actions.

The customer will rely on footage he filmed of the interaction between himself and the Officeworks employee at an Elsternwick branch in March 2024.

Officeworks employee fought a joinder application to make them the second defendant alongside the office supply chain store.

The video starts part way through their conversation, with the employee saying: “I’m pro-Palestine.”

“That’s okay you’re here to do a job of laminating,” the customer replied.

“Yeah we have the right to deny jobs.”

“Is that an Officeworks position or your personal position?”

“It is a Officeworks … we have the right to deny jobs.”

“So Officeworks’ position is that you’re pro-Palestine and you won’t take a laminating job?”

“No that is my, that is my position, but we have the right to deny jobs.”

When asked what the reason was to deny the job, the employee said they were “not comfortable” proceeding with the lamination.

After the customer left the store, he reportedly engaged a lawyer who wrote to Officeworks alleging they had contravened equal opportunity laws.

The customer is seeking a written apology, compensation and a declaration from VCAT that both respondents unlawfully discriminated against him.

On Monday afternoon, appearing via videolink in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, representatives for the employee fought a joinder application tying their client to the matter.

Counsel for the customer argued making the employee a second defendant in the matter, alongside Officeworks, was “uncontroversial”.

The Jewish customer has sought a declaration from VCAT stating the employee and Officeworks had unlawfully discriminated against him.

Those representing the employee said the joinder application was undesirable considering their client had “very few financial means and a vulnerable mental health situation”.

“All that can be achieved is punishment of XRF (the employee), if BAJ (the customer) is to succeed,” they said.

They also said their client was “vulnerable”, with threats made against their physical safety and damage to their mental health following release of the footage.

Representatives also pressed that the Officeworks employee should be addressed by their preferred pronouns of they/ them in any communication before the tribunal.

VCAT Senior Member Bernadette Steele ultimately ordered that the employee be included as a defendant in the matter, saying “vulnerability” was not a reason to be excluded from the case.

Officeworks’ barrister Robyn Sweet KC made no submissions against the joinder application.

The tribunal heard the Officeworks employee will be self represented at future proceedings, with their barrister only paid to represent them on Monday.

The upcoming hearing is estimated to last four days and revolve around allegations of discrimination and whether or not an apology was ever officially offered to the customer by Officeworks and the employee.

In a statement at the time, Officeworks managing Director Sarah Hunter said they had investigated the matter and expressed her “disappointment and regret” about the incident.

According to the statement, the employee was given a “final warning”, underwent additional training – including a visit to the Melbourne Holocaust Museum – and was relocated to a different store.

When asked by the Herald Sun, Officeworks would not say whether or not the employee had their employment terminated.