The Law Handbook 2024

248 SECTION 3: Fines, infringements and criminal law to your employer, so an employer will not see any spent convictions on the police check it receives for employment purposes. Some of the professions and occupations where exemptions apply that enable access to spent convictions for registration and licencing purposes include: • teachers (s 2.6.7(4)(a), 2.6.22A Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic)); • health practitioners (ss 77, 135 Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (Victoria) Act 2009 (Vic) – these provisions specifically exclude the operation of spent convictions laws that would otherwise allow non-disclosure of a criminal history);* • lawyers (s 17 Legal Profession UniformLawApplication Act 2014 (Vic)); • security guards and crowd controllers (s 25 Private Security Act 2004 (Vic)); • second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers (s 6(2)(a) Second-Hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act 1989 (Vic)); • introduction agents (s 92 Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading Act 2012 (Vic)); • building practitioners and plumbers (ss 169A, 221VA Building Act 1993 (Vic)); • conveyancers (s 5 Conveyancers Act 2006 (Vic)); • prison-related services (s 9A Corrections Act 1986 (Vic)); • poppy cultivators or processors (s 69NB Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic)); • real estate agents (s 14 Estate Agents Act 1980 (Vic)); • fundraisers (s 18E Fundraising Act 1998 (Vic)); • car traders (s 13 Motor Car Traders Act 1986 (Vic)); • staff members of supported residential services (s 66 Supported Residential Services (Private Proprietors) Act 2010 (Vic)); • police officers (s 103 Victoria Police Act 2013 (Vic)); • members of the State Emergency Service (s 37 Victoria State Emergency Service Act 2005 (Vic)); • employment in child-related work ( Working with Children Act 2005 (Vic)); • out-of-home carers, including kinship carers and foster carers (s 77 Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 (Vic)); • drivers accredited with Commercial Passenger Vehicles Victoria (s 73 Commercial Passenger Vehicle Industry Act 2017 (Vic));** • aged-care workers and volunteers in aged-care facilities (s 10A(1) Aged Care Act 1997 (Cth)). NOTES * The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency has established a registration standard to guide health practitioner registration boards when they are determining whether a health practitioner’s criminal history is relevant to the practice of their profession (see www.ahpra.gov.au) . ** Applications for driver accreditation must be refused if an applicant has been found guilty or convicted of certain serious violent, sexual, motor vehicle or terrorism offences (category 1 offences). Commercial Passenger Vehicles Victoria can decide whether or not to refuse applications for driver accreditation from applicants who have committed category 2 or 3 offences (www.cpv.vic.gov.au) . (See also ‘Working with children checks’, below). A failure to disclose your criminal history may cause problems later if contradictory information appears on your police check. It may also justify your employer terminating your employment at some time in the future (despite the fact that a charge may not have been disclosed on your police record because of a lapse of time). Note that once you are employed, an employer does not have a general right to enquire about your criminal history status, unless your employment is subject to regulations or is a contract requiring ongoing disclosure. Discrimination because of a spent conviction Generally, it is unlikely that a criminal conviction for a minor offence will automatically be a bar to employment. It should be assessed by the employer and considered according to the individual circumstances of the case and the requirements of the job. Unfortunately, some employers do discriminate against people with criminal records and don’t consider them for employment, no matter how minor or old the record is, and regardless of its relevance to the job. However, it is unlawful to discriminate against a person because of their spent conviction. An employer must not treat an employee or an applicant for a job unfairly or unfavourably because of their spent conviction unless they have an exemption. Employers and other agencies also have a duty under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) to take