Sexual harassment in clubs.

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Under the Equal Opportunity Act, it is against the law to treat someone unfairly who is a member of a club or applying to become a member of a club, or to harass (hassle) them because of a personal characteristic protected by law. This includes sexual harassment. The law covers members and committees of management. A club could be legally liable for an individual club member's discrimination if that member acted on the club's instructions or with its authority.

What kinds of clubs are covered?

Clubs include social, sporting, community service and recreational clubs that occupy crown land or receive (directly or indirectly) funding from the Victorian government or a local council.

How can discrimination in clubs happen?

Membership applications

If behaviour is based on a personal characteristic protected by law, it may be unlawful for a club to discriminate against someone who applies to become a member by:

• refusing membership, e.g. because the applicant is a gay man.
• setting unequal terms for categories or types of membership, e.g. only accepting men as full members.
• processing an application for membership unfairly, e.g. only requiring character references from people from non-English speaking backgrounds.

Existing members

A club must not discriminate against a member by:

• depriving them of membership, e.g. because they belong to a union
• varying terms of membership, e.g. ending life membership after discovering someone is a lesbian
• refusing to accept a member's application for a different category or type of membership, e.g. refusing applications for the highest class of membership from non-Anglo Celtic members
• denying or limiting access to club benefits, e.g. refusing use of the club's pool to a member who is HIV positive
• any other unfair treatment based on a personal characteristic protected by law, e.g. excluding a member who has hepatitis C from playing in the club's annual football match.

Exemptions and exceptions

Private clubs

Private clubs are not covered by the Equal Opportunity Act. Private clubs are those which:

• are not located on crown land; or
• don't receive Victorian government or local council funding either directly or indirectly.

Special circumstances

Under the following special circumstances, a club that would normally be covered by law may discriminate.

Special measures

If a club is set up to:

• prevent or reduce disadvantage by a particular group;
• preserve a minority culture; or
• provide benefits for people of a particular age;

it may lawfully exclude people who are not members of the relevant group, minority culture or age.

Access to benefits

A club may restrict benefits to members of a particular age if it is reasonable to do so under the circumstances.

A club may limit access to benefits on the basis of sex if:

• it isn't practicable for men and women to enjoy the benefit at the same time; and
• equal access to the same benefit is provided for both women and men; or
• men and women are entitled to a reasonably equal opportunity to enjoy the benefit.

Sponsor

Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission

Disclaimer Copyright Updated: 12 Aug 2009