By Jonathan Rivett

Copyright brisbanetimes

I can see how you don’t hold out much hope of a new role in the same sector.

I asked Professor Joellen Riley Munton from the faculty of law at the University of Technology Sydney to give her expert opinion on whether you have to disclose things such as age and health conditions to prospective employers.

You may not need to give your birthdate, but most employers will need to know your details if they decide to employ you.

“This is a difficult one. We do have protections from discrimination at work, in the General Protections against adverse action in Section 351 of the Fair Work Act. These do cover age and disability, and they do apply to prospective employees,” she says.

“The provisions, however, allow for an employer to defend a discriminatory decision on the basis that the candidate could not meet the ‘inherent requirements of the job’. If it really is necessary to lift heavy boxes to do the job, and the candidate has a medical condition that would prevent them from doing that safely, that would be a legitimate reason for not selecting them for the job.”