A practical guide to New Zealand 90-day trial dismissals: when the clause is valid, the start date and notice requirements, and the mistakes that can leave an employer exposed to a personal grievance.
An unjustified dismissal is a Personal Grievance claim. The central question is whether the employer's actions, and how the employer acted, were what a fair and reasonable employer could have done in all the circumstances.
If you have been fired, sacked or otherwise dismissed, the usual legal claim is a Personal Grievance for unjustified dismissal. The statutory test asks whether the employer's actions, and how the employer acted, were what a fair and reasonable employer could have done in all the circumstances.
In ordinary dismissal cases, both the employer's reason and process matter. A genuine concern does not automatically justify dismissal, and a polished process does not rescue a decision that no fair and reasonable employer could have made.
The substantive case matters. An employer may have followed meetings and letters but still fail if the factual finding was not reasonably available, the conduct did not justify dismissal, the performance concerns were not properly established, or the redundancy rationale did not support disestablishing the employee's role. The question is objective: what could a fair and reasonable employer have done on the information available at the time?
Calling conduct "serious misconduct" does not make it so. The employer still needs an adequate factual basis for the finding and a dismissal that meets the statutory justification test. If summary dismissal is imposed, the classification matters because serious misconduct is also usually relied on to justify dismissal without notice.
The 2026 remedy changes make the employee's conduct especially important after liability is established. If the Authority or Court finds that an employee's contributing action amounted to serious misconduct, no PG remedy is available even if the grievance itself is established.
A prior warning is not legally required in every possible dismissal, and serious misconduct can justify dismissal without notice. But an employer will ordinarily need to put the relevant concerns to the employee and give a reasonable opportunity to answer them before deciding. An on-the-spot dismissal without that opportunity can create a significant justification problem unless a statutory exception applies.
A valid 90-day trial period can remove the ordinary ability to challenge a dismissal and dismissal-related disadvantage, subject to the statutory exceptions. Different dismissal protections can also apply to employees at or above the statutory remuneration threshold, currently $200,000, with transition and opt-back-in rules. These issues should be checked before assuming the ordinary dismissal test applies.
If the reasons are unclear, section 120 provides a process for requesting a written statement of the reasons for dismissal. The request must be made within the statutory period, so it should not be left indefinitely.
Go directly to the issue that matches the dismissal or browse the case summaries for recent Authority decisions and remedies.
Personal Grievance Unfair dismissal ERA cases Disciplinary meetings and investigations Probationary periods Medical incapacity dismissal Redundancy Constructive dismissal 90-day trial dismissal
A practical guide to New Zealand 90-day trial dismissals: when the clause is valid, the start date and notice requirements, and the mistakes that can leave an employer exposed to a personal grievance.
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