Kid People Pty Ltd (KPPL) own a number of education centres providing after school tutoring services throughout Brisbane. Mr James Blockhead (an Australian, with English born parents) is the manager of the Gold Coast centre. In March 2013, just before Mr Blockhead was hired as the manager, Miss Maggie Wallace, who had just recently emigrated from Scotland to Australia, was hired as a maths tutor at KPPL.
Maggie was very well-liked by most of her students. However, Mark one of her 14 year old high school students hated maths and disliked Maggie. Three weeks ago, Mark complained to Mr Blockhead that he was going to fail his high school maths exam because he could not understand Maggie’s Scottish accent. None of Maggie’s other thirty-two students had reported any difficulties with understanding her.
Two weeks ago, when Maggie was trying to tutor Mark in trigonometry, Mark accused her of teasing him and pushed her away from his desk. In response, Maggie told Mark that pushing her was unacceptable behaviour and made him leave the room immediately. Mark left the room and complained to Mr Blockhead that afternoon.
The next morning before school had stated, Mr Blockhead saw Maggie in the tea room next to his office. He immediately beckoned Maggie into his office, leaving the door behind him. Mr Blockhead then said to Maggie, “First of all, your students can’t understand your English because of your stupid Scottish accent and now I’ve been informed that you expelled poor little Mark from your classroom for no reason at all! It’s bad enough you Scots are destroying the world’s economy, now you come here and try to destroy our education! This centre should never have hired a woman, especially a Scottish woman! They are always causing trouble!” Without waiting for a response, Mr Blockhead added, “Your employment with us is terminated. Part of performing this tutoring position includes being able to speak clearly to the children!” By now in tears as she was leaving, Mr Blockhead handed Maggie a letter of termination and a final payslip yelling at her “Bloody Scots! I hate them, and any decent and patriotic Australian who loves this country should hate them too!”
As a result of losing her job and the way Mr Blockhead treated her, Maggie became very distressed and suffered a nervous breakdown. She still has not found other work, although she has been looking for another job.
Maggie seeks your advice as to whether she can pursue any legal action under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld) against Mr Blockhead and/or KPPL, and if so, what remedies might be available to her. You need to include the relevant sections of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld) and relevant common law principles in your ILAC answer.
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