Officeworks must act to prevent future antisemitism

An appalling case of antisemitism in the heartland of Melbourne’s Jewish community has come to light.

How the company, and the legal authority now involved, respond will be an important indicator of how much of a problem we have as Jews in contemporary Australia.

The facts of the case are clear. A Jewish man, identifiable because he was wearing a kippah, took a copy of the Australian Jewish News into Officeworks Elsternwick, and asked the person behind the counter to laminate an article about a trip to Israel.

The worker refused, saying that she was “pro-Palestinian” and that staff members at Officeworks have the right to deny jobs. “I am not comfortable proceeding with it,” she said.

The altercation, which occurred on March 4, was filmed and published by The Australian yesterday after the victim took the case to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).

Officeworks has so far failed to understand the seriousness of its employee's behaviour. When the man, who has chosen not to be identified, complained to the store, he was “thanked for the feedback” and offered a $100 gift card as compensation. Such a sop is appropriate for a stuff-up, not an offence.

The company has since said that the employee has undergone “education through the Melbourne Holocaust Museum” and that she is still employed at the store. No punitive action has been taken.

The Officeworks response is not good enough – which is why the man has taken the case to VCAT. He is seeking compensation, that staff undergo antisemitism training, and a declaration that Officeworks have contravened the Equal Opportunity Act.

These are moderate and appropriate forms of restitution which address what we have the right to expect from a responsible corporate citizen.

Many in the Jewish community are calling for the employee involved to be sacked. Dismissal – or at least a formal warning – is appropriate for an employee who has acted illegally, but will achieve nothing and may create a martyr.

Far more important is that Officeworks acknowledges its failure and educates its employees to understand their responsibilities, and that other businesses learn from the example and proactively provide appropriate anti-discrimination education, including specific education addressing antisemitism.

A refusal to serve on the grounds of someone’s religious or ethnic association is illegal and contrary to the core values of Australia. The single customer is not the only victim. All Australian Jews have been hurt by this attack on a member of our community. Our whole society has been damaged by the failure to protect equality and access to a commonplace service.

All Australians are losers when we live in a society where the basic rights of all citizens to full participation are not honoured. The damage to social cohesion and the decline of the multicultural framework on which our society is built should not be underestimated.

It is not unreasonable for Officeworks to have a policy that gives its employees the right to deny service under certain circumstances. Workers on the frontline should have the right to refuse to work with material that is offensive: violent, obscene or illegal.

But the company has a responsibility to ensure its employees understand that this right of denial does not lessen their legal obligations not to discriminate on the grounds of ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

An employee does not have the right to refuse to frame an image of a Sudanese-Australian child because she is a white supremacist.

She does not have the right to refuse to copy a picture of a family celebrating Chinese New Year because she is concerned about China’s treatment of the Uyghurs.

She does not have the right to refuse to print photos from a gay wedding because she objects to homosexuality.

And she does not have the right to refuse to laminate an article about a Jewish-Australian trip to Israel because she supports the Palestinian campaign against Israel.

(Support for a campaign is a generous construction of this employee’s objections. Her blanket “I’m pro-Palestinian” with no further explanation does not suggest she has even a vague understanding of the complexity of the issues involved in the Israel-Palestine conflict.)

We can’t help wondering whether Officeworks would have responded differently if it were dealing with discrimination against black, Asian or gay people.

In the current climate of hostility to Israel, it has become too common for antisemitism to go under the radar, disguised as political protest. There are grey areas, where the slippage from legitimate criticism of Israeli politicise to attacks on an entire nation can be difficult to identify. This is not such a case.

Laminating a photo is a small matter and no doubt the man involved could just have gone elsewhere. He was right not to do so. We know from history that discrimination is the beginning of a short and dangerous path.

We must demand a strong response to any breach of our rights as Australians.

UPDATE

Officeworks Managing Director Sarah Hunter has released the following statement.