What happens if a complaint is made about you

A person can make a complaint to us if they think they have experienced discrimination, sexual harassment, racial or religious vilification or victimisation.

We have a free, confidential, and informal alternative service to having a complaint heard and determined by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).

If a complaint is made about you or your organisation, a conciliator will contact you to talk about the complaint and invite you to participate to find an outcome.

If you agree to participate, the conciliator will suggest the best type of conciliation for your matter. We resolve most complaints within six months.

The process is entirely voluntary. If a complaint is made about you, we cannot compel you to participate in conciliation.

If you decide not to participate, we will close the complaint. However, the complainant can still make an application to VCAT to hear the matter.

We cannot make findings about a matter or decisions about the outcome. Instead, our conciliators help the participants to reach a mutually agreeable outcome such as:

• an apology, statement of regret or acknowledgement of distress
• changes to policies or practices
• a commitment to provide equal opportunity training to staff
• reinstating a person’s job (or terms of their job) or a service (or how it is delivered)
• financial compensation.

If the complaint is about your organisation, you will need to provide authority for a representative of your organisation to make decisions about the outcome of the matter.

If you reach an agreement, the participants may wish to record it in writing. Either may agree to draft the agreement or your conciliator can help you to draft it.

If you can’t reach an agreement, we will close the complainant and the complainant may choose to take it to VCAT.