Gender discrimination claim against Inner West Council fails
A woman who was knocked back for a job as a garbage collector has failed in a gender discrimination claim, despite several men getting more notice of the interview than she did for the role in the male-dominated industry.
The female casual garbage truck driver was applying for a permanent role with Sydney’s Inner West Council, but was only told at 4am that she would be interviewed at 10.30am the same day, with a shift in between, preventing her from preparing or changing out of her work clothes.
Recycling and waste collection is classed as an “almost completely male-dominated” field, with 95 per cent male workers, according to the federal government’s Jobs and Skills Australia agency.
The case, heard in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, involved one of the few women working as a garbage truck driver at Sydney’s Inner West Council, and highlighted how hard it can be to show an employer has breached anti-discrimination laws.
The woman, who this masthead has chosen not to name, began working with the Inner West Council in 2023 as a casual garbage truck driver via an external company, and applied for a full-time job in March the next year. She was told she lacked enough experience, which she then obtained.
When permanent loader and driver positions opened up later that year, she applied and was interviewed for them.
However, she said that in July 2024, she became aware that a number of her male colleagues had been notified that they would be interviewed for the position. Approximately two weeks later, she had not yet been notified.
She said she was only told by one of her superiors at about 4am on August 7, while starting one of her ordinary shifts, that she was required to return to the depot by 10.30am that morning because she had an interview.
She said she was therefore required to do her ordinary work before attending the interview, and had no meaningful opportunity to prepare or change into what she suggested was more appropriate clothing.
She also complained the male candidates had been notified by text, rather than verbally. There was no dispute that the male candidates had been informed of their interviews at least a few days earlier than her.
While the interview panel convenor accepted that having more notice of an interview would give an advantage to a candidate, the tribunal ruled there was no evidence that suggested her performance at the interview was compromised by short notice or what she wore.
She also said she was verbally informed she had a medical assessment for the job shortly after returning from leave, and that she was briefly shown the appointment details on a mobile phone which she hurriedly tried to photograph before the phone was put away. She argued the successful male candidates had been notified by email, and not merely by being shown details on a phone.
The female driver argued this all formed a “broader pattern of differential treatment” during the recruitment process on the ground of her sex.
The council said while the female driver performed well in the interviews, she was “not among the most meritorious candidates”, with her supervisor noting she had been in “quite a few accidents”, more than most other employees.
The supervisor also said the woman was included in the interview process for the driver position despite not initially progressing to the interview stage, after he realised interviews for the loader position would probably occur while she was on leave. She had not initially been selected because she did not have as much driving experience as the other candidates, but scored third- or fourth-highest in the interview.
The full-time positions were offered to male candidates who the female garbage truck driver claimed had equal or lesser relevant experience than she did.
The tribunal ruled there was no evidence showing that any of the council’s conduct was on the basis of her sex.
“There is, as it is sometimes called, no smoking gun to which [she] can point,” the tribunal said.
Peter Roney, KC, who oversaw the case, said the female driver’s supervisor had no issue working alongside women in the workplace. “That is, in our view, significant because absent that, there is little to explain why he may have engaged in the conduct [she] accused him of,” Roney said.
The tribunal, which described the woman as “an ambitious and articulate woman who had great confidence in herself”, said she was not materially disadvantaged by the recruitment process, and that the different treatment she faced was not on the ground of sex.
“Clumsy, disorganised or less than optimal management practices they may have been, but none was shown to have occurred consciously or unconsciously on the ground that she was female.”
Inner West Council General Manager Peter Gainsford said the council respected the tribunal’s finding which dismissed the complaint and found there was no basis to conclude that the recruitment decisions were made based on gender.
“The tribunal also identified improvements needed in the council recruitment processes,” he said. “As a result, we are reviewing these processes. Council is committed to the highest standards of employment conditions. The applicant continues to be employed by council.”
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Millie Muroi is the economics writer at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age covering workplace and economics. She was formerly an economics correspondent based in Canberra’s Press Gallery and the banking writer based in Sydney.Connect via X or email.