A Melbourne disability care provider has been slammed as racist after it posted a job ad explicitly asking “dark-skinned” people not to apply.
The ad, looking for a 24-hour in-home care provider for an autistic client, was posted by Absolute Care and Health on Indeed.com.
“We request no dark-skinned (Indian or African) applicants apply for this role (as per client request),” the job ad read.
The company has since pulled the ad, but said the criteria was the autistic client’s request and not their own policy.
“On 22nd June, we published a job advertisement which regrettably contained information that was discriminatory and has caused offence,” CEO Barbara Ould told SBS in a statement.
“We are deeply saddened and sorry for this unintentional, serious error and for the offence and distress it has caused.”
However, some disability care workers say this isn’t good enough, and that blaming the ad on the client’s preference doesn’t excuse racism.
“The idea that these organisations … are legitimising their discrimination by saying this is what the clients want – that’s really, really bad,” Mohammed Umar, a care worker originally from Somalia, told SBS.
After the news broke, the chair of the Anti-Defamation Commission, Dr Dvir Abramovich, described the ad as “stomach-churning”.
“This ad crossed so many lines that I stopped counting and turned back the clock on race-relations,” he told 7 News.
“And while I am glad that someone at the company woke up to this disgraceful situation and pulled this deeply hurtful and abhorrent ad, one has to wonder how the phrasing and intent did not raise a single red flag within the organisation before it was published.”
The news comes roughly a week after a Black Bondi barista was fired after being told customers were “are a bit racist”.
