Human Rights Act 1993, ss 21B(1), 44, 52
Businesses can refuse to serve you if this is required or authorised by some other law, as the following example shows.
Example: If a separate law requires or allows them to refuse you
Case: [2015] NZHRRT 38
A dental technician was justified in refusing to make and fit dentures for a man who was HIV+, because the technician was inexperienced and would have been breaching his legal duty to provide services with reasonable care and skill.
In June 2014, the dental technician refused to make and fit dentures for a man who was HIV positive. This potential customer complained to the Health and Disability Commissioner, who in turn passed the complaint on to the Human Rights Commission. The case then went to the Human Rights Review Tribunal, which decided the case in September 2015.
The dental technician claimed he’d been justified in refusing to do the work because he’d only been in business a year after graduating and therefore he wasn’t experienced enough to take on someone with a serious health condition, including things like heart conditions and Type 2 diabetes. He cited an earlier example where a client of his had had a healing problem and wasn’t able to tolerate the dentures he had been made, and so the technician had refunded the fee to that client. He had experience in making dentures, but not so much in working directly with customers and fitting dentures.
The Human Rights Review Tribunal agreed with the dental technician that he was justified in turning the customer away. The Tribunal said he had a duty under the Code of Health and Disability Service Consumers’ Rights to provide his services with reasonable care and skill (Right 4(1)). This justified him, under the exceptions in the Human Rights Act, in considering a prospective customer’s health in deciding whether to accept them.