Can I use both my state anti-discrimination claim and a federal human rights complaint for the same incident?

The situation

I am writing from Victoria regarding a situation that happened at my workplace about three months ago, specifically on the 14th of February. I have been employed as a junior administrator for about two years, and during a staff meeting, my manager made several incredibly offensive and derogatory comments regarding my ethnic background in front of ten other colleagues. This caused me a great deal of distress and has impacted my ability to perform my labour effectively. I have already lodged a formal grievance through our internal HR programme, but they dismissed it, claiming it was just a misunderstanding. Because of this, I decided to take action. I have already started a formal complaint process through the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission because our state laws seem to cover this kind of behaviour. However, I also heard that I could potentially lodge a separate complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission at a federal level for the same incident. I am really confused about whether I am allowed to pursue both paths at once to ensure I get justice, or if filing the state claim means I am legally barred from ever bringing the matter to the federal human rights authorities. Can I have both running, or does the state one cancel out the federal one?

Detailed Analysis

Under the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, there is a rule to prevent people from pursuing the same complaint through two different legal channels at once. Because your manager's comments on 14 February involved your ethnic background, this federal law applies to your situation.

The law states that "the person shall be deemed never to have been, and is not, entitled to make a complaint or institute a proceeding under the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 alleging that the act or omission is unlawful"^[1]. This means that because you have already taken action under Victorian state law, the law treats you as if you never had the right to file a federal complaint for that same incident. This rule is designed to ensure you do not have two different legal processes running for the exact same event.

While the federal law does not stop state laws from working alongside it^[1], it specifically prevents "double dipping" where a person tries to use both the state and federal human rights systems for the same grievance. Since your complaint with the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission is already underway, the federal path is effectively closed to you for this specific incident.

It is also worth noting that if your situation involved sexual harassment, the Fair Work Act 2009 has similar restrictions to prevent multiple applications for the same conduct^[2]. However, for your specific claim regarding racial discrimination, the primary restriction comes from the Racial Discrimination Act.

State, provincial, or local laws may add further rules, so you should check Victorian-specific employment regulations.

Statutory Citations

Related Questions

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