Scenario #7: Providers of Goods and Services v a Person

The Rule

The Act makes it unlawful for a person:

• who provides (whether or not for payment) goods or services,

• to discriminate against a person on the ground of disability:

  • by refusing to provide that person with those goods or services, or

  • in the terms on which they provide that person with those goods or services.

The Exception to the Rule

IF – the provision of the goods or services would impose unjustifiable hardship on the person who provides the goods or services,

THEN – the behaviour described under the rule is not unlawful.

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To determine whether there is an ‘unjustifiable hardship’, all relevant circumstances of the particular case need to be taken into account including the:

• nature of the benefit or detriment likely to accrue or be suffered by any persons concerned, and

• effect of the disability of a person concerned, and

• financial circumstances and the estimated amount of expenditure required to be made by the person claiming unjustifiable hardship.