Case Study: Woolworths and Gender Discrimination - BMGT3001

This case study report analyzes a gender discrimination case involving Woolworths Ltd., the second-largest company in Australia. The report details how the company's recruitment process, which required applicants to submit personal information like gender and date of birth, led to a complaint filed in the Anti-Discrimination Commission of Queensland. The case highlights the importance of ethical behavior in business, examining arguments presented by both the applicant and the company, and discussing ethical decision-making approaches such as the Consequentialist Theory. The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruled in favor of the applicant, emphasizing the need for companies to avoid unlawful practices and protect applicant privacy. The case underscores the impact of gender discrimination on a company's goodwill and the importance of adhering to privacy and human rights acts. The report concludes with a discussion of the ethical implications of the case and the lessons learned for businesses regarding recruitment practices and ethical decision-making.

Reading Head: GENDER DISCRIMINATION 0
Marketing
January 28
2020

GENDER DISCRIMINATION 1
Executive Summary
Woolworths ltd. is the second largest company of Australia. Many applicants apply in this
company for job every year. But it is found that this company is involved in gender
discrimination. In their recruitment process company is asking applicants to submit their
personal information such as gender, date of birth and right to work in Australia which is of
no use at the time of applying for the job. This news can affect the existing employees of the
company as well because now they will also think that company is involved in such type of
unethical actions. And not only this it will also impact on goodwill of the company. Other
small companies will also get influenced and they will also involve themselves in gender
discrimination because they will think if companies like Woolworth are doing this it is the
right thing to do. This action is also not considered to be ethically correct. There are some
theories which will also not support this type of action taken by the company.
This case of gender discrimination will impact minds of many people as this will create
negative image of the company. Decision of the court is also in the favour of applicant and
because of this company also has to pay an amount of $5000 to applicant

GENDER DISCRIMINATION 2
Contents
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................1
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Background of the Issue.........................................................................................................3
Why this issue is important?...................................................................................................3
Woolworths ltd...........................................................................................................................3
Discussion of the case................................................................................................................4
Arguments..................................................................................................................................4
Ethical Decisions Making approaches and Theories.................................................................5
Consequentialist Theory:........................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................8

GENDER DISCRIMINATION 3
Introduction
Background of the Issue
Woolworths Ltd. was involved in a case of gender discrimination because one of the
applicants filed a case against company for gender discrimination. According to the rules of
the company applicant has to upload their personal information at the time of application for
the job. And as a result of this requirement one of the applicants got offended with the
company. Therefore, he lodged a complaint in Anti-Discrimination Commission of
Queensland and then this complaint was referred to Queensland Civil and Administration
Tribunal (Reiffel, 2019).
Why this issue is important?
Every year in Woolworth ltd. 670,000 applicants applied for positions and around 48,000
jobs vacancies are filled every year (Willox, 2015). Case against this company has come in
prevalence because there are many job seekers who were looking for job opportunity in this
organisation. And the case which is filled by the applicant against the company is related to
people who are either working in this company or looking for job in this company. As this is
the case of gender discrimination and it is also not an ethical action for the company this case
may affect the goodwill of the company and employee relations may also be affected.
This case is important because there are lots of job seekers who are looking for jobs. It is
important for other companies to know that this type of unethical behaviour will not be
tolerated because there are equal job opportunities available for males and females. And
applicant should also know that there is no need of submitting personal documents or
information until job is confirmed (Radik, 2015).
Woolworths ltd.
It is a leading Australian company and it also the second largest company of Australia in
terms of revenue. Company also owns the largest retail liquor stores, largest hotel and gaming
poker machine in Australia and New Zealand. Company opened its first store in Sydney on 5
December 1924. Company has 205,000 employees according to the data of 2018 (Hatch,
2016). The company announced a loss of $1,235 billion for the 2016 financial year (Hatch,
2016). Company has also initiated innovative techniques in their stores which use cash
registers that print receipts for customers. Company is not only involved in liquor business

GENDER DISCRIMINATION 4
but it is also involved in Supermarkets, Woolworth’s online, general merchandise, Finance,
hotels and gabling. Company has evolved with time and extend their business in many others
nearby countries and states of Australia (ICMR, 2009). Company has also done mergers with
different organisations to expand their business as they have done acquisition with Dan
Murphy’s in 1996 to expand liquor business (Forbes, 2019). And since 1924 Woolworth is
ruling the retail industry.
Discussion of the case
This case was filed by an applicant who got offended with company’s rules and policies of
submitting personal details and documents at the time applying for the job. According to the
applicant personal details such as gender, date of birth and personal details regarding right to
work in Australia are not required at the time of application. And so he decided to filed
complain against this action of the company. After this case was file in Queensland Civil and
Administrative Tribunal court. Company has given many arguments to justify their act as
date of birth is asked to calculate the age of applicant because it is a liquor business and
applicant should be above 18 years old. Court also says that there is no requirement of gender
column because gender can be recognised by the name of the person. And after all these
arguments court has given their decision in the favour of applicant because according to court
also all these requirement are necessary at the time of final joining of a person. Company has
also given a compensation of $5000 to the applicant.
This case highlights the skill and ethical behaviour which is required by the companies at the
time of drafting questions in application or recruitment form. Court has also given advice to
companies not to ask any personal/confidential information to the applicant which may fall
under any unlawful/ anti-discrimination laws (QCAT, 2017).
Arguments
After analysing this case it is found that company is involved in unethical behaviour. And
that’s why company was asking applicants about their personal documents and details. And
since, lakhs of applications were received by the company every-year personal information of
applicants is saved in their database. This type of act is also the violation of Privacy Act,
1988 (Torresan, 2013) and Right to Work Information act, 1966 (Hazell, 1989).

GENDER DISCRIMINATION 5
Company should ask for all these documents at the time of generating offer letter for
confirmation purpose at the time of application it all not having any sense because if a person
is not selected for recruitment process his personal documents will be saved in company’s
database.
This is the right action taken by the applicant because many people are not even aware that
even this law exists or not. And for them it is a wakeup call that they need not to submit any
personal documents at the time of interview.
Company says that these documents are required for the verification purpose but verification
is necessary when company is hiring any individual until then this step is not required
because it shows the unethical behaviour.
Ethical Decisions Making approaches and Theories
Basically, there are three ethical theories and every theory has their different approach,
namely, i) Consequentialist theory ii) Non- Consequentialist theory and iii) Agent- centred
theory. There are different types of approaches as well such as the Utilitarian approach, the
Egoistic Approach, the common good approach, the rights approach, the duty based
approach, the divine command approach, the virtue approach, the feminist approach. All this
will help in making ethical decisions for an individual or for an organisation (Sque, Walke, &
Tracy, 2017). These theories will also guide companies and individuals about right and
wrong.
Consequentialist Theory:
This theory primarily concerned about the ethical consequences of the particular actions. And
this theory has three approaches, namely, the Utilitarian Approach, the Egoistic approach and
the common good approach (Capon, 2020).
a) Utilitarian Approach
This is the most common approach for making ethical decisions. This approach
concerns with decision which are taken for large number of people. This approach
suggest that there will be either good or bad result of every action which is taken or
the result which consist of more positive result will be taken in consideration
(Mandal, Ponnambath, & Parija, 2016).

GENDER DISCRIMINATION 6
This approach concentrates on the consequences which have to be faced by large
number of people.
There are many people who are applying in this company for job and they are also
submitting their personal details which are in the database of the company. But
because of the applicant, Mr Willmott they will be aware about this action for future.
Mr Willmott does not think of any consequences and he directly complains about this
issue in court and legal actions are taken against them
b) The Egoistic Approach
In this approach an individual will use utilitarian approach for the calculation of good
and bad. In this approach society benefits are given more importance then self-
interest (Overall & Gedeon, 2018).
c) The Common Good Approach
According to this approach actions of individual should contribute to the ethical life.
This approach also teaches individual to think aspects of the society and they should
also respect others (Browns University, 2020).
After this action is taken company has changed their policy and they have also updated their
recruitment process. And now they did not ask for any personal documents at the time of
application and they have also made some amendments in the gender column. Now it is not
compulsory to fill that column.
It can be said that this action is considered to be a wakeup call for people/ jobseekers and also
for companies. And court has also suggested companies to not indulge in unlawful practices.
Conclusion
Woolworths is the second largest company of Australia and it also has a large number of
people working in it. Many job seekers applies in this company as it is having goodwill in the
market and therefore every year they have received lakhs of application but they only have
limited vacancies every year. Company is also having a recruitment process and every
applicant have to follow that. But since they are asking for personal documents and
information of all applicants they are found to be practicing unlawful activities in their
organisation.

GENDER DISCRIMINATION 7
It is important for people and companies to know that no company can ask for their personal
details unless they got selected in the company. At the time of issuing offer letter documents
can be asked. Because of this case people are also aware about the Human right act and
Privacy act.
If this action is not taken by one of the applicants then company will be receiving personal
information and documents of applicants and gender discrimination can also be done by the
company. Because asking about gender at the time of application is not of any use. And
company should not ask this type of personal question which can create discrimination.
And if company uses this approach and theory they can stop themselves from getting into any
unlawful practice. Because there are some ethics and laws which has to be followed by
companies.

GENDER DISCRIMINATION 8
References
Browns University. (2020). A Framework for Making Ethical Decisions. Retrieved 01 28,
2020, from Brown's University: https://www.brown.edu/academics/science-and-
technology-studies/framework-making-ethical-decisions
Capon, T. B. (2020). Ethical approaches and autonomous systems. Artificial Intelligence.
Forbes. (2019, 05 15). Woolworths. Retrieved 01 28, 2020, from Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/companies/woolworths/#2c617fea5854
Hatch, P. (2016, 07 22). Fortune 500: Supermarkets, banks and miners dominate Australia's
entries. Retrieved 01 29, 2020, from The Sydney Morning Therald:
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/fortune-500-supermarkets-banks-
and-miners-dominate-australias-entries-20160722-gqbd60.html
Hazell, R. (1989). Public Administration. Wiley.
ICMR. (2009). Australia's Leading Retailer Woolworths' Retail Operations. Retrieved 01 28,
2020, from ICMR:
https://www.icmrindia.org/CaseStudies/catalogue/Operations/OPER072.htm
Mandal, J., Ponnambath, D. K., & Parija, S. C. (2016). Utilitarian and deontological ethics in
medicine. Tropical Parasitology, 5-7.
Overall, J., & Gedeon, S. A. (2018). A Rational Egoism Approach to Virtue Ethics. Business
and Professional Ethics Journal.
QCAT. (2017, 04 19). Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal – remedies awarded
(from December 2009). Retrieved 01 28, 2020, from
http://www.qhrc.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/6696/QCAT-table-April-
2017.pdf
Radik, L. (2015, 05). Beware of requests for unnecessary information in job application
forms. Retrieved 01 28, 2020, from Carter Newell :
https://www.carternewell.com/page/Publications/Archive/Beware_requests_for_unne
cessary_information_in_job_application_forms/

GENDER DISCRIMINATION 9
Reiffel, G. (2019, 06 30). Workplace Discrimination: Woolworths’ recruitment practices fall
foul of anti-discrimination law. Retrieved 01 28, 2020, from Greg Reiffel Consulting :
https://www.gregreiffelconsulting.com.au/workplace-discrimination-woolworths-
recruitment-practices-fall-foul-of-anti-discrimination-law/#
Sque, M., Walke, W., & Tracy, L.-S. (2017). Ethical issues in bereavement research:
Practical use of a decision-making framework. Faculty of Education, Health and
Wellbeing.
Torresan, D. (2013). informit. Reforms to Australia's privacy laws - is your organisation
ready?, 410-411.
Willox, P. (2015, 04 09). Job application discriminatory in requiring age and gender.
Retrieved 02 01, 2020, from King & Wood Mallesons:
https://www.kwm.com/en/au/knowledge/insights/job-application-discriminatory-
requiring-age-gender-queensland-20150408