2018-05-15
The complainant has a hearing impairment and requires the assistance of the National Relay Service (NRS) to communicate by telephone. He claimed that on one occasion when he contacted the respondent bank with the assistance of NRS, the bank refused to discuss his accounts with him, and that on another occasion, he was asked exhaustive security questions and questions about his disability. The complainant alleged the bank refused to assist him, froze his accounts and told him he would have to telephone the bank directly to resolve the matter.
The bank said that it has a number of security measures in place to protect its customers’ bank accounts against fraud by third parties. The bank claimed these processes did not subject customers who have a hearing impairment or are deaf to greater scrutiny than other customers using third parties to access accounts. The bank said staff received training on communicating with different services that may be used by its customers and on appropriate questioning of customers. The bank claimed that, as a result of the complaint, additional coaching and counselling meetings were held with relevant staff.
The complaint was resolved with an agreement that the bank apologise to the complainant for his experience, seek his feedback on how it could improve its services to him in the future and deposit $250 into his account to be donated to a charity of his choice.
Year
Discrimination type
Disability Discrimination Act
Grounds
Disability
Areas
Goods, services and facilities
Apology
Compensation
Donation
Anti-discrimination/EEO training reviewed/revised (systemic)
Amount
$250