WHEN Risto Tanevski's role as a rail maintenance supervisor was downgraded in 2006 over concerns about his literacy skills, the 60-year-old became so stressed he was unable to return to work.

The Macedonian migrant had been employed in rail maintenance in Australia for 41 years - 31 of those as a supervisor. Although his reports were filled with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, they were easily understandable, said some who had worked with him at the Port Kembla steel works.

Mr Tanevski successfully sued his employer, Fluor Australia, for indirect racial discrimination after the company removed him from a supervisory role, forced him to assist another supervisor and downgraded his vehicle because of concerns his reading and writing skills might compromise safety standards.

In his submissions to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal, Mr Tanevski had complained that the company had discriminated against him because of his race and that by failing to provide English-language training it had also discriminated against his age. But those complaints were not upheld.

The court heard that Mr Tanevski was unable to complete basic handwritten reports that were required of supervisors. But other colleagues had helped him with this for many years.

He denied that he could not fulfil the job requirements because of his language skills. But during the hearing his language difficulties became apparent when, after complaining he had forgotten his glasses and then having the forms enlarged, he was still unable to read them.

During a meeting with the company Mr Tanevski alleged that he was told he was too old for training. But a senior supervisor, Henry Wroniak, denied he had said Mr Tanevski was too old but that it would "take some time" to build the skills needed under the company's new safety program.

The tribunal found that Fluor had indirectly discriminated against Mr Tanevski as it was unreasonable to expect him to comply with literacy requirements that a higher proportion of non-Macedonian employees would be able to meet. "Mr Tanevski's literacy level had been accommodated by Fluor for five years, and he was planning to retire in the next 12 to 15 months."

Training him in the safety system and instructing him to fill out forms properly "would have enabled Mr Tanevski and others to continue working safely for the 12 to 15 months before he retired and allowed him to maintain his dignity as a Fluor employee".

Fluor has said it will appeal against the decision.