New South Wales Consolidated Acts

ANTI-DISCRIMINATION ACT 1977 - SECT 31

31 Exception--genuine occupational qualification

(1) Nothing in this Division renders unlawful discrimination against a person on the ground of the person's sex where being a person of a particular sex is a genuine occupational qualification for the job.

(2) Being a person of a particular sex is a genuine occupational qualification for a job where any one or more of the following requirements is satisfied--

(a) the essential nature of the job calls for a person of that sex for reasons of physiognomy or physique, excluding physical strength or stamina, or, in dramatic performances or other entertainment, for reasons of authenticity, so that the essential nature of the job would be materially different if carried out by a person of the opposite sex, or

(b) the job needs to be held by a person of that sex to preserve decency or privacy because it involves the fitting of a person's clothing, or

(c) the job requires the holder of the job to enter a lavatory ordinarily used by persons of that sex while it is used by persons of that sex, or

(d) the job requires the holder of the job to search persons of that sex, or

(e) the job requires the holder of the job to enter areas ordinarily used by persons of that sex while in a state of undress or while bathing or showering, or

(f) the job requires the holder of the job to live in premises provided by the employer and--

(i) those premises are not equipped with separate sleeping accommodation for persons of the opposite sex and sanitary facilities which could be used by persons of the opposite sex in privacy from persons of that sex, and

(ii) it is not reasonable to expect the employer either to equip those premises with accommodation and facilities of that kind or to provide other premises for persons of the opposite sex, or

(g) the job requires the holder of the job to keep persons of that sex in custody in a prison or other institution or in part of a prison or other institution, or

(h) the holder of the job provides persons of that sex with personal services relating to their welfare or education, or similar personal services, and they or a substantial number of them might reasonably object to its being carried out by a person of the opposite sex, or

(i) the job is one of two to be held by a married couple.

(3) Being a person of a particular sex is a genuine occupational qualification for a prescribed job or a job of a prescribed class or description.

(4) Nothing in subsection (2) limits the Governor's power to make a regulation for the purposes of subsection (3).