Resolved complaint (55) about disability discrimination in employment

About the complaint

The complainant has an acquired brain injury and was employed as a service officer in a government agency. The complainant said he advised the agency of his disability when he applied for the role and requested reasonable adjustments to accommodate his disability, particularly extra time to process information. He alleged the agency took over four months to provide him with adjustments and then terminated his employment. 

The government agency said the complainant did not provide information about his disability during the onboarding process and the doctor who performed the pre-employment medical examination did not recommend provision of any adjustments. The agency said that once it became aware of the complainant's disability, it obtained additional medical information and developed an individual support plan which included provision of adjustments. The agency said it terminated the complainant's employment because he failed to meet satisfactory standards of performance during the probationary period. 

The complaint was resolved with an agreement that the agency pay the complainant $10,000, write to him expressing regret for his experience in relation to performance appraisal and convey his feedback to its human resources and other relevant teams.  

Guidance on the use of these summaries

This is a summary of a selected complaint that has been resolved through our conciliation process. It's designed to help people better understand how complaints might be resolved and what outcomes are possible.

These summaries are for general guidance only and are not legal advice. If you need advice about your situation, you should seek independent legal support.

Please note:

• all complaints are de-identified
• complaints are resolved on a 'without admission of liability' basis
• some content may include confronting or offensive language.