Work-life balance and discrimination
What employers should know
Breastfeeding
What employers should know
The Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (PDF, 785 KB) prohibits discrimination on the basis of certain attributes including:
- pregnancy
- parental status
- breastfeeding
- family responsibilities.
Employers need to be particularly careful not to breach anti-discrimination laws when dealing with employees with family responsibilities.
Terms of employment such as starting and finish times, the requirement to work full-time and attendance requirements are not directly discriminatory, but may be indirectly discriminatory.
Employers need to treat seriously requests for part-time work, flexible work hours, telecommuting and other flexible work arrangements. It is not enough to offer an employee their full-time position after returning from parental leave and let them go if they cannot work full-time. A requirement to work full-time must pass a test of reasonableness as defined in case law.
Breastfeeding
Employees who are breastfeeding cannot be discriminated against: the Anti-Discrimination Act 199 and the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 make it unlawful. For example, it is unlawful if the employer unreasonably refuses to provide a quiet place for employees to express milk at work.
More information is available on what to do if you are discriminated against.
Organisations to assist
The Australian Breastfeeding Association is a large community-based self-help group that provides innovative counselling and support services to the community and health sector throughout Australia. The Association has developed breastfeeding-friendly workplace accreditation to assist employers with the provision of facilities and formulation of policies to support breastfeeding women in the workplace.
For further information on the obligations of employers in relation to breastfeeding in the workplace, please contact the Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland on 1300 130 670 or email info@adcq.qld.gov.au.
Last updated 21 July 2009
Other languages