An overview of legal procedure & case law
Under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) a person discriminates against another person on the ground of their marital or relationship status if the discrimination occurs by reason of:
Marital or relationship status means the condition of being:
An extended meaning of ‘marital status’ to include the characteristics of a person’s spouse has been rejected by the Courts.[3]
However, this is to be distinguished from a situation where a person acts or makes a decision on the basis of a characteristic which is generally suggested of a person of a particular marital status. For example, where a married woman is denied an opportunity because her husband has been involved in various corrupt activities and it is believed that she, in common with married women generally is susceptible to the corrupting influence of her husband.[4]
[1] Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) s.6.
[2] Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) s.4.
[3] Boehringer Ingelheim Pty Ltd v Reddrop [1984] 2 NSWLR 13; cited in Waterhouse v Bell (1991) 41 IR 435.