Job seeker claims discrimination against cafe after being rejected for wearing a mask

A regional Victorian job seeker claims they had their resume knocked back because they were wearing a mask.

It is unlikely any action can be taken; however, Cat Webb has claimed discrimination.

Webb dropped their resume off at a West Gippsland café and began chatting to a person they believed to be a manager.

Webb claims the person told them they wouldn’t be considered unless they were willing to remove their mask.

"[She] looked at my mask and asked me if I would be willing to take the mask off to work at the cafe. I was a little bit shocked," Webb said.

Webb was told that masks represented division and fear and that staff should rise above that, but Webb countered in saying that they wore a mask to protect themselves and their immunocompromised friends against COVID-19.

"She tried to reassure me around safety … that they do good hand washing, stay at home [if] they're sick and those sorts of things," Mx Webb said.

"I said to her that the mask for me is about being able to care for my friends.

"[After] I said that ... she handed back my resume and said that she wouldn't be able to consider me for the position there."

As the job was not formally advertised, discrimination laws do not apply.

Past president of the Law Institute of Victoria Mark Woods said, "What the employer will doubtless say is, 'Oh, look, we didn't have a position available anyway,'.”

However, if the job was formally advertised it would have been a different story.

"The employment laws in this country are pretty clear that if an employer specifically says to you, 'We're not going to employ you because of this particular health measure that you've taken,' that employer can be dealt with by various commissions which are set up to prevent discrimination," he said.

However, Webb has called for businesses to state where they stand on these types of issues and said they now feel finding a job is much more difficult.

"The downside of this interaction is that it has shaken my confidence a bit," they said.

Jonathan Jackson - 8-12-22