This section will outline your responsibilities in anti-discrimination awareness as a driver with FamilyCab including

• the types of discrimination and how discrimination occurs;

• the types of sexual harassment and how sexual harassment occurs;

Discrimination happens when a person, or a group of people, is treated less favourably than another person or group because of their background or certain personal characteristics. This is known as ‘direct discrimination’.

It is also discrimination when an unreasonable rule or policy applies to everyone but has the effect of disadvantaging some people because of a personal characteristic they share. This is known as ‘indirect discrimination’.

Discrimination can be against the law if it is based on a person’s:

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

It applies to all aspects of the provision of goods and services, including:

• how a person is treated in the supply of goods or services (for example, refusing to serve an Aboriginal person in a hotel);
• the way in which the goods or services are supplied (for example, charging women more than men for the same garage services); or
• the terms on which the goods or services are supplied (for example, requiring a young person to leave a bigger deposit on hire items such as sailboards than older people).

Applying a rule or policy that applies to everyone but disadvantages some people because of a personal characteristic is known as:

Discrimination can be against the law in the provision of driving services:

Not all treatment that seems unfair is unlawful. The Act lists some exemptions that allow conduct that would otherwise be discriminatory. Whether or not an exemption applies will depend on individual circumstances. Below is an overview of some of the exemptions that may apply in providing goods or services.

Welfare and equal opportunity measures
Special measures provisions are designed to benefit or promote equal opportunity for a member of a disadvantaged group or a person with particular needs – for example, an information and referral employment service exclusively for young people.

Public health
Actions to protect public health when it is reasonably necessary are permitted. This may include, for example, temporarily excluding a child from a childcare centre while they have an infectious or communicable disease such as measles or chickenpox.

Special services or facilities
It can be lawful to discriminate on the basis of impairment where special services or facilities are required for a person or people with an impairment, and supplying the special services or facilities would impose an unjustifiable hardship on the person providing the goods or services. Factors that are relevant include the cost of making reasonable adjustments, the number of people to benefit, the financial circumstances of the person required to provide them, and any human and other costs that may disadvantage others. Rideshare drivers who do not have an appropriate chair lift can refuse service to wheelchair bound passengers who do require a chair lift for safe transportation.
Reasonable adjustments may include modifying premises or equipment (such as providing ramp or lift access), adjusting certain practices and procedures (such as removing a policy that all cinema clients with a wheelchair be required to sit at the very front of the cinema) and implementing appropriate policies and practices (such as providing visual information aids for people with an intellectual or learning impairment, or braille trails for people with visual impairments).

Sites of cultural and religious significance
Access to land or buildings of cultural or religious significance may be restricted on the basis of sex, age, race or religion if the restriction is in accordance with the cultural standards or doctrine of the religion concerned, and if it is necessary to avoid offending the cultural or religious sensitivities of the people of the culture or religion.

Age based benefits
Age based benefits and concessions are permitted e.g. pensioner and child discounts at cinemas and for travel.

Accompanying children
A provider of services may require children to be accompanied by an adult where there is a reasonable risk of disruption or danger to the child or anybody else, for example, for certain amusement rides. FamilyCab currently does not provide unaccompanied child transport except in circumstances where child safety and comfort has been guaranteed at pick up and drop off location.

It is extremely rare for a FamilyCab driver to be in a situation where discrimination is allowed. Most passengers have already determined that they are suitable for our service and drivers should do everything within reason to accomodate them.

Which of these examples of discrimination in a rideshare context would be not be unlawful discrimination:

You cannot refuse service to a person in a wheelchair even if they require a chair lift: