Discrimination and mental health

Understanding discrimination and mental health

Discrimination occurs when a person is, or a group of people are, treated less favourably than another person or group because of certain personal characteristics such as:

• sex, pregnancy, marital or relationship status, family responsibilities or breastfeeding
• sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status
• age
• race, including colour, descent, national or ethnic origin or immigrant status
• disability.

Discrimination doesn’t only affect the person being discriminated against. It also affects other workers and the organisation more generally.

Discrimination in the workplace

Discrimination can be direct or indirect. 

Some examples of direct discrimination include:

• not employing the best person for the job because of a disability
• paying an individual less based on their gender
• not employing a person because they may want to start a family soon
• not employing a person from a particular racial group because they will not ‘fit in’ with their co-workers. 

Indirect discrimination can be less obvious. It can happen when organisations put in place conditions or requirements that seem to treat everyone equally, but actually disadvantage some people.  

Some examples of indirect discrimination include:

• requiring a deaf person to attend a meeting without an Auslan interpreter
• not offering part-time workers the same opportunities for mentoring, training and promotion as full-time workers
• offering only married workers in remote locations allowances and leave to visit their families (not those who are single or in de facto relationships)
• prohibiting workers to wear hats or other headwear at work, which can impact people from some racial or ethnic backgrounds. 

Treating a person less favourably can also include harassing them. Harassment can include behaviour such as:

• telling insulting jokes about particular racial groups
• sending explicit or sexually suggestive emails or text messages
• displaying racially offensive or pornographic posters or screen savers
• making derogatory comments or taunts about a person’s disability
• asking intrusive questions about someone’s personal life, including their sex life.

Even as a one-off incident, these actions still can count as harassment.  

The impact of discrimination on individuals

Discrimination can cause physical and psychological harm to the person to which it is directed. This can lead to impacts including:

• feelings of isolation, social isolation or family dislocation
• loss of confidence and withdrawal
• stress, depression and anxiety
• illnesses that can be associated with stress such as cardiovascular disease, immune deficiency and gastrointestinal disorders 
• suicidal thoughts.

Discrimination can also affect people economically if it limits their career progression or results in a need to leave the workforce. 

The impact of discrimination on organisations and businesses

Discrimination can also impact organisations and businesses through outcomes such as: 

• loss of knowledge, experience and skilled staff due to staff turnover
• high costs of recruitment and training
• loss of productivity
• low morale and low levels of job satisfaction
• loss of diversity and its associated benefits in the workplace
• potential reputational damage.

Laws that prevent discrimination

A number of laws make discrimination unlawful in Australia at the federal, state and territory levels.  

The federal discrimination laws are: 

• Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth)
• Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth)
• Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth)
• Age Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth)
• Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 (Cth).

The federal discrimination laws protect people from discrimination based on their:

• race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin or immigrant status
• sex, pregnancy, marital or relationship status, family responsibilities and breastfeeding
• age
• disability, including total or partial loss of a person’s bodily or mental functions, total or partial loss of a part of the body, the presence of organisms causing disease or illness, a disorder that results in learning differently, or a disorder that affects a person’s thought processes
• sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status.

It is unlawful for employers to discriminate against workers and they may also be found liable for discrimination by workers or agents if they have not taken all reasonable steps to prevent the discrimination. What counts as ‘reasonable’ varies between organisations. This is called vicarious liability. 

It is also against the law to victimise a person for making, or proposing to make, certain complaints alleging discrimination.

Visit the Australian Human Rights Commission’s website and the Respect@Work website to understand more about your legal obligations. 

Other federal laws that prohibit discrimination in the workplace include the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).