What employers should know
Employees with family responsibilities
Breastfeeding
Employees with 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 finishing times, the requirement to work full-time and attendance requirements could be indirectly discriminatory.
Employers need to treat seriously requests for part-time work, flexible working hours, telecommuting and other flexible work arrangements. It is not enough to offer an employee their full-time position after parental leave or let them go if they can’t work full-time.
The law requires a test of reasonableness.
Breastfeeding
Employees who are breastfeeding cannot be discriminated against: the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (PDF, 785 KB) and the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 make it unlawful.
An employer should provide a quiet place for an employee to express milk at work.
For further information on the obligations of employers in relation to breastfeeding in the workplace, contact the Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland on 1300 130 670 or email info@adcq.qld.gov.au.
Last updated July 21, 2009
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