In Australia, anti-discrimination laws provide varying degrees of protections for breastfeeding parents at the federal level and across the states and territories. Under federal law, the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) was amended in 2023 to include breastfeeding as a protected attribute.
In a decision from the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal, a KFC franchisee (Southern Restaurants (Vic) Pty Ltd) was found to have contravened the Discrimination Act after disadvantaging a breast-feeding employee by using a safety ‘rule’ that is not mandated by law or workplace regulation.
Southern Restaurants is part of the largest private KFC franchise group in Australia. The employee was a KFC store manager for three years. Following a period of parental leave she returned to work, having previously indicated to management that she would need to express and store breast milk throughout the day. Southern Restaurants management advised that it would not provide a private room due to ‘impracticality and cost’.
The employee suggested several alternative arrangements, including using the private rooms in a nearby shopping centre on her scheduled breaks. Management referenced a KFC policy that required a manager with health and safety training to always be present on site and denied permission for her to leave the store on her breaks. Management offered to supply a foldable camping shower tent and chair for use in the door-less storeroom - the employee found that such an arrangement did not provide the privacy required and was too confined.
In its decision, ACT-CAT confirmed that Southern Restaurants unlawfully discriminated against the worker and forced the employee to engage in a continuous battle to obtain a reasonable response from her employers. "The discrimination was gendered and involved a significant power imbalance" between a large franchisee with significant resources to enable it to understand its obligations, and a young, inexperienced, first-time mother, the Tribunal said.
Southern Restaurants was ordered to pay the employee $80,000 in general damages and meet the cost of mental health care up to $10,000.
Read more: First case for Australia on breastfeeding workplace discrimination | HRD Australia | Pioneering case reveals the crucial importance of workplace breastfeeding accommodations | Safetrac
