Part 4 Equal employment opportunity

344   Objects

(1)  The objects of this Part are:

(a)  to eliminate and ensure the absence of discrimination in employment on the grounds of race, sex, marital or domestic status and disability in councils, and

(b)  to promote equal employment opportunity for women, members of racial minorities and persons with disabilities in councils.

(2)  In this section, disability has the same meaning as in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 of the Commonwealth.

Note. The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 of the Commonwealth defines disability to include such things as loss of bodily or mental function, loss of a part of the body, malfunction, malformation or disfigurement of a part of the body and certain other conditions, disorders, illnesses and diseases. That Act makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a person on the ground of the other person’s disability in certain contexts. These include in determining who should be offered employment (section 15 of that Act). Such discrimination is unlawful unless the person, because of his or her disability, would be unable to carry out the inherent requirements of the particular employment or would, in order to carry out those requirements, require services or facilities that are not required by persons without the disability and the provision of which would impose an unjustifiable hardship on the employer.

345   Preparation and implementation of EEO management plans

(1)  A council must prepare and implement an equal employment opportunity management plan in order to achieve the objects of this Part.

(2)  The plan is to include provisions relating to:

(a)  the devising of policies and programs by which the objects of this Part are to be achieved, and

(b)  the communication of those policies and programs to persons within the staff of the council, and

(c)  the collection and recording of appropriate information, and

(d)  the review of personnel practices within the council (including recruitment techniques, selection criteria, training and staff development programs, promotion and transfer policies and patterns, and conditions of service) with a view to the identification of any discriminatory practices, and

(e)  the setting of goals or targets, where these may reasonably be determined, against which the success of the plan in achieving the objects of this Part may be assessed, and

(f)  the means, other than those referred to in paragraph (e), of evaluating the policies and programs referred to in paragraph (a), and

(g)  the revision and amendment of the plan, and

(h)  the appointment of persons within the council to implement the provisions referred to in paragraphs (a)–(g).

(3)  An equal employment opportunity management plan may include provisions, other than those referred to in subsection (2), that are not inconsistent with the objects of this Part.

(4)  A council may, from time to time, amend its equal employment opportunity management plan.

346   Inconsistencies with the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977

(1)  The provisions of an equal employment opportunity management plan, to the extent of any inconsistency between those provisions and the provisions of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977, prevail.

(2)  This section does not apply to or in respect of the provisions of a plan which are the subject of a reference under section 347 to the Anti-Discrimination Board or the Director of Equal Opportunity in Public Employment.

Note. This section adopts the principles in section 122K of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977. Those principles are designed to ensure that full effect can be given to the objects of this Part.

347   References

(1)  Where the Minister is dissatisfied with any matter relating to the preparation, amendment or implementation of an equal employment opportunity management plan by a council or any failure or omission of a council with respect to the preparation, amendment or implementation of any such plan, the Minister may refer the matter to the Anti-Discrimination Board or the Director of Equal Opportunity in Public Employment.

(2)  The provisions of section 122N of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977, and the succeeding provisions of Part 9A of that Act, apply to and in respect of a reference under this section to the Anti-Discrimination Board as if it were a reference under section 122M of that Act and as if the council were an authority within the meaning of that Part.