Employers.
In our ever-changing employment landscape, employers face countless challenges. A single slip-up can lead to personal grievance claims. Understanding the risk of making a mistake is essential.
If one of your employees has a complaint about their employment, they can raise a personal grievance claim against you. This could include complaints about being unfairly fired, discriminated against, bullied or disadvantaged in some way.
Employees have 90 days or 12 months in the case of sexual harassment to bring a grievance. This begins on the date that the action allegedly occurred or came to your employee’s notice, whichever is later.
What are your obligations as an employer?
As an employer, you can reduce the risk of grievances by having a complete understanding of your responsibilities. Good faith generally means acting reasonably and honestly and communicating well with your employees about anything that may affect their employment.
It often goes wrong if you want to end your employee’s employment. You must be able to point to good reasons for their dismissal and demonstrate that a fair process has been followed. If you get the process wrong on either the process or justification, a successful grievance for unjustified dismissal can be brought to the Employment Relations Authority.
All employers also have a range of statutory duties that must be followed, such as:
- Providing safe work and a safe workplace, which could include bullying complaints.
- Ensuring you provide minimum leave entitlements.
- Providing rest and meal breaks.
- Paying the agreed wages or salary and paying at least the minimum wage.
- Comply with your obligation under the Employment Relations Act.
What can happen?
The penalties for getting it wrong can be severe for a business. These can include:
- Time and costs of participating in mediation and or a hearing in the Employment Relations Authority.
- Legal costs for both sides.
- The cost of settling a grievance or any awards against you.
- Negative publicity and reputational damage.
- Disruption in your workplace to your workplace culture.
Compensation awards have been trending upwards in recent years, resulting in employees obtaining higher amounts of compensation. This means you need to be on your game when dismissing or disciplining an employee.
Call us first, that’s how you limit claims and personal grievances, as well as employment disputes.