‘Little option’

Press, 28 March 1980, Page 3

‘Little option’

Mr Sides said yesterday that he had little option but to contest the Human Rights Commission’s decision when it was taken to the Equal Opportunities Tribunal. The commission told Mr Sides that damages were to be sought for any monetary loss that might have been suffered by the complainant, Mr lan Robinson. “The claims for compensation staggered me—- — is outright blackmail,” Mr Sides said. “The commission claims I should pay for the boy’s loss of job opportunity and hurt feelings, but I refuse to pay a cash settlement to a person I have never even seen or interviewed,” he said.

Any employer who decided against an applicant could be victimised in that way. The law was protecting the applicant and victimising the employer.

Mr Sides said he believed the issues were “good versus evil and God versus the Devil.” It was “standards and morality versus the ungodliness and anarchy in the world today,” he said. “I am being legislated against unfairly and am not free to follow the Christian way the Bible teaches.” Mr Sides said he had been singled, out on this occasion because he had different standards of living.