A practical New Zealand guide to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA): applications, case management, evidence, witness statements, investigation meetings, remedies, costs and preparation.
A Personal Grievance (PG) is the main process employees use to challenge unjustified dismissal, unjustified disadvantage and other unlawful treatment at work. Time limits are strict and how the grievance is first raised can matter.
A Personal Grievance (PG) is the main legal process an employee uses to challenge an unjustified dismissal, unjustified disadvantage, discrimination, harassment and certain other unlawful treatment at work. For most PGs the grievance must be raised with the employer within 90 days, so it is important to identify the complaint and the deadline early.
The employer needs to be made aware that the employee alleges a personal grievance and wants the employer to address it. A particular legal formula is not the point, but the grievance should be clear enough that the employer understands what action is challenged and why. In practice, raising the PG in writing is usually safer because it creates a record of the allegations and the date they were raised.
Most personal grievances must be raised within 90 days beginning with the date the action occurred or came to the employee's notice, whichever is later. A sexual-harassment PG has a 12-month employee notification period. Late grievances are possible only in limited circumstances, so relying on an extension is risky.
Employment cases are usually won or lost on the contemporaneous record. Preserve the material before access disappears:
Depending on the claim, remedies can include reinstatement, reimbursement of lost remuneration, and compensation for humiliation, loss of dignity and injury to feelings or loss of a benefit. The remedy question is separate from whether the grievance itself is established.
Do not assume every dismissal follows the ordinary rules. Special statutory restrictions can apply to a valid 90-day trial and to employees at or above the statutory high-income remuneration threshold. The high-income rules include transition and opt-back-in provisions, so the employment agreement, remuneration and dates need to be checked before deciding what dismissal claim is available.
Use the specialist guides for the particular problem, or browse the ERA decision summaries to see how dismissal, redundancy, disadvantage, remedies and procedure are being dealt with in actual cases.
Unfair dismissal Unjustified disadvantage Redundancy Constructive dismissal Disciplinary process Suspension Performance management Workplace bullying Medical incapacity Probationary periods 90-day trial dismissal Employment mediation Employment Relations Authority Unfair dismissal ERA cases
A practical New Zealand guide to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA): applications, case management, evidence, witness statements, investigation meetings, remedies, costs and preparation.
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