Aussie Fight over Gambling Addiction and Job Discrimination

Australian employers are demanding legislative changes following an administrative ruling in Victoria allowing a claim of job discrimination based on gambling addiction.  The plaintiff in McDougall v. Kimberly-Clark Australia Pty. Ltd. alleges that her gambling addiction made it impossible for her to work in the State of Victoria, and required that she be offered a position in Perth in Western Australia.

The Human Rights Division of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal allowed the plaintiff's claim to go forward to hearing.  Her claim, as stated by the Tribunal, is that "the existence of numerous gaming machines liberally sprinkled around the State of Victoria is, as a matter of medical science, a sufficient inhibitor of recovery to make her tenure in Victoria dangerous to her health."  The plaintiff now lives in Western Australia, which has a single casino site in Perth.  The defendant has objected that the plaintiff's gambling was an "activity" rather than a medical condition.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce has demanded that Australian governments at all levels amend their anti-discrimination laws to exclude a person's gambling addiction as a disability or impairment.  An earlier ruling by an Australian court found that heroin addiction was covered by those laws.