Apply human rights to your work

Yes. The Act covers anyone doing work for the Queensland Government. This includes:

• all departments and agencies
• emergency services
• local governments
• non-government organisations providing public health, disability, education, transport, housing and emergency services.

If your day-to-day work impacts individuals in Queensland, then you need to think about human rights when you make decisions.

Read scenarios about how human rights might be affected in different types of government policy and decision making.

If you're not sure whether the Act applies to your work, speak to your manager.

Your work as a Government employee may impact the human rights of Queenslanders when you deal directly with the public or when you make a decision that affects the public.

For example, the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) protects people, property and the environment. A QFES representative might recommend that the Commissioner declare a mandatory evacuation of an area facing serious risk to lives because of a fire. This decision will limit the right to freedom of movement for everyone who lives in that area. But it will also protect their right to life.

Sometimes our actions protect or promote human rights; sometimes they limit human rights.

The following hypothetical case studies demonstrate how human rights can apply at work and how they often need to be considered and measured against one another:

• Giving out personal information
• Dealing with disruptive tenants

Step 1: What human rights are affected?

The first step is to think about what human rights are affected by the policy, action, or decision.

Learn more about the individual rights on the Queensland Human Rights Commission website or in our guide, Nature and scope of the protected human rights (PDF, 1.8 MB) .

Read scenarios about how human rights might be affected in different types of government work.

Step 2: Will human rights be limited?

Sometimes one person's human rights need to be balanced against the rights of another person or group. For example, everyone in Queensland has the right to freedom of expression—people can have their own opinion and share their ideas.

Everyone in Queensland also has the right to recognition and equality before the law—including protection from discrimination. In some situations, a person's right to freedom of expression might need to be limited to protect another person from discrimination.

If you aren't limiting any human rights, you don't need to go through the rest of the steps.

Step 3: Does the law let me limit human rights?

If you are limiting someone's human rights, there has to be a law or regulation that allows you to do this. For example, police officers work under a range of laws, including the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000. This is a law that may allow police officers to limit human rights for certain reasons. For example, they might need to limit the right to freedom of movement by blocking off a road to stop people from going into an area where it might not be safe to drive.

If you aren't sure about the law that allows you to make decisions, speak to your manager.

Step 4: Can I show there is good reason for the limitation and it's fair?

If you limit someone's human rights, you have to show that there is good reason for the limitation and it's fair. Think about:

1. what the human right is trying to protect
2. why you need to limit a human right
3. whether limiting a person's rights will actually achieve that purpose
4. whether there is another option that is less restrictive
5. how important the purpose is
6. how important it is to protect the right
7. if there is a fair balance between the reason for limiting the right and the importance of protecting the right.

You can read more about how to make decisions that are consistent with human rights in our guide Human rights in decision making.