The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) has ordered three Hawke’s Bay horticulture contractor businesses to pay a total of $22,500 in penalties for failure to provide employment records to the Labour Inspector.

The Employment Court recently made two clear statements about costs awards:

We’re doing the hard work for you!  Prior to commencing a disciplinary process with an employee, there are many steps the employer needs to take in order to initiate a thorough and fair disciplinary process.  Getting the prep work wrong can be fatal to the process so we’ve put together a checklist for you to help get you started in the right direction.

10-Jun-15

A major factor in deciding whether to bring a personal grievance will be the potential costs faced. Even if an employee succeeds, costs awarded are unlikely to cover the actual costs incurred. Further, the employer will also incur significant costs in defending a personal grievance, even when a case is of little merit. This is where a “without prejudice save as to costs” offer (“Calderbank”) can be useful.

In a recent decision the Human Rights Review Tribunal ordered telecommunications company, Orcon, to pay $25,000 in damages. This case sends a strong reminder to agencies to check the accuracy of personal information before using it.

The Bill reforming health and safety law has been further delayed, with the Committee report back date rescheduled to 24 July 2015.

Performance management brings together the organisation’s goals and strategies, its human resources policies and practices, and all the elements of good people management and employee communication — integrating them into an organisation-wide process for planning, managing, reviewing, rewarding and developing people and their performance.

With ANZAC Day falling on a Saturday this year,  the new Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Act or, as it is more commonly known, the ‘Mondayisation Bill’, will have its first big impact.

Until now, compensatory awards for hurt and humiliation for employees bringing successful personal grievances have commonly been between $5,000 and $7,000. Costs awards are normally far lower than the actual costs incurred, so the likelihood is that the employee will be out of pocket.