NSW Tribunal awards $35,000 in transgender discrimination case

The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) has awarded $35,000 to a transgender healthcare worker after finding that an internal recruitment policy constituted indirect discrimination.

The worker, a man who had transitioned and changed his names prior to working for the state health service in 2020, applied for a new role within the Northern NSW Local Health District in 2023. Due to a “Former Name Check Condition” applied to internal applicants, a colleague contacted him to confirm his previous names. The worker reported feeling humiliated and feared being outed at his workplace.

Tribunal members Peter Roney KC and Michael Maher noted that the worker suffered from significant distress, including panic attacks and sleep deprivation, due to the situation. The tribunal accepted expert testimony regarding the distress caused by the use of “dead names” and concluded that the recruitment condition was discriminatory.