Got a Personal Grievance? Ask for an Authority To Act form. Written authority, Terms of Engagement, and fee clarity are practical client protections that do not require new advocate regulation.
People searching for an employment lawyer often need practical representation for a dismissal, Personal Grievance, mediation or Employment Relations Authority claim. In New Zealand, both lawyers and employment advocates can perform important representation roles, but they are not the same.
If you are searching for an employment lawyer in New Zealand, what you may actually need is experienced representation for a dismissal, Personal Grievance, disciplinary process, mediation or Employment Relations Authority claim. An employment advocate is a different type of representative from a lawyer, but can represent employees through much of the employment dispute process.
A lawyer is admitted to the legal profession and regulated under the lawyers' professional framework. An employment advocate is not a lawyer. Advocates can nevertheless represent parties in employment negotiations, mediation and the Employment Relations Authority, and the choice often comes down to the type of dispute, the representative's experience, fee model and the forum the matter may ultimately require.
The label alone does not tell you whether somebody is the right representative for a particular employment case. Ask how they will analyse the claim, what evidence they need, what the likely remedies and risks are, how they negotiate, and whether they actually run matters through mediation and the ERA when settlement is not reached.
Earlier is usually better where employment is still ongoing. A representative may be able to help before a disciplinary meeting, before a redundancy decision, while an employee is suspended, or before a resignation that may later be alleged to be constructive dismissal. Once a final decision has been made, the focus changes to preserving evidence, raising the Personal Grievance within time, calculating remedies and choosing the resolution route.
Got a Personal Grievance? Ask for an Authority To Act form. Written authority, Terms of Engagement, and fee clarity are practical client protections that do not require new advocate regulation.
An Unless order, if granted, gives a party one last opportunity to remedy their breach.
Parties can agree that an advocate is paid directly by the employer in terms of an s 149 record of settlement. "Payment" excludes legal or advocacy services where such service is a separate term of the settlement and a GST invoice for a defined sum is provided to the other party.
There are a lot of employers who think that "No Win, No Fee" is an arrangement available to their business in defending a personal grievance or other claims.
Employers beware of high employment lawyer fees when defending a personal grievance claim. Even if you win, recovering your actual legal spend in the ERA is usually limited by the daily tariff approach.