An employee at stationery giant Officeworks was forced to visit the Melbourne Holocaust Museum after a customer complained about her refusal to laminate a Jewish newspaper.
Video emerged this week of the March incident, which shows a female worker in a rainbow “pride” lanyard telling a Jewish customer wearing a kippah that she would not deal with his request because she is pro-Palestine.
She told the man that workers had a right to deny jobs, and that she was not comfortable laminating the newspaper article based on the photo and the headline. The customer then engaged a lawyer to demand an apology from management and the termination of the worker’s employment.
An officeworks staffer has on camera denied a job “I’m pro palestine” laminating an article with an Israeli and Australian flag. Wearing a rainbow pride lanyard the female repeats “we have the right to deny jobs” pic.twitter.com/o7DZHR7pH0
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Officeworks managing director Sarah Hunter said in a statement that the employee was required to visit the museum as a result of the complaint, and said: “The impact on the team member was deep and profound”.
Ms Hunter also said that the incident was “not due to malice but ignorance”. Senior executives and staff at Officeworks are also set to undergo an “anti-Semitism awareness course” run by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
But the Jewish customer is furious that the worker was not fired, and is now taking Officeworks to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) for an order under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 claiming racial and religious vilification.
The man said he feels he has no other alternative since he feels he is being treated as a “dissatisfied customer” rather than as a victim of discrimination.
“This incident has caused my family and me significant distress and has raised concerns about whether it is safe to visit our local stores and conduct our usual activities,” he said in a statement to the Anti-Defamation Commission.
“None of the staff intervened during the situation with the manager, and the embarrassment and harassment we experienced have left a lasting impact.”
The same staff member also allegedly told a Jewish woman in January that she could not print pictures in the size she wanted because “the Jews had used all the paper”, the Herald Sun reported.
