Labour Inspectors make sure that employers operate within the law in relation minimum entitlements – that is things like minimum wages, annual leave, and public holidays.  They can take action to enforce minimum standards through the Employment Relations Authority.

The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) is a more formal step to resolving an employment dispute or personal grievance if mediation doesn’t work. The ERA is an independent body set up to investigate workplace disputes. 

Both employers and employees can lodge an application in the ERA, the filing fee currently costs $71.56.

If you are having a dispute with your employer/employee you should first try and discuss it with them. This isn’t always easy but it is a necessary step towards solving any dispute. If you can’t resolve the problem with your employer/employee then you have a few other options available:

Background: I own a motel that currently has 28 rooms. I work a few hours myself and I employ a permanent part-time manager. I also have three employees (the cleaners) who are part-time with variable hours who carry out cleaning, servicing rooms and “whatever” turns up on the day. The manager helps with those duties after dealing with administrative matters. I am converting half the rooms to apartments, so will only have a ten-room establishment. I will no longer need a part-time manager. Anticipating what is likely to happen, two of the cleaners have decided to return to study and have advised they will be terminating employment in two months’ time. After the conversion is carried out, I will be able to run the business with only two cleaners. The manager has become overbearing and I will be glad to give him notice of redundancy and work on my own again.

19-Jul-13

When an employee does not raise an alleged personal grievance within the statutory 90-day period, the employee can make an application to the Employment Relations Authority seeking leave to raise the personal grievance out of time: section 114(3), Employment Relations Act 2000. The Authority may grant leave if:

Simon Bridges, 12 July 2013

It’s an awful situation to find yourself in, but it actually happens more often than you may think.  Being sacked, fired, or instantly (summarily) dismissed without notice can be a huge shock to your system, and your finances!  Feeling bewildered and not knowing where to turn or what to do is common.  So, to give you a bit of advice with where to start we’re going to cover off the basics below.  Were you on a trial period? Was your suspension fair? Did your employer follow a fair process? Did the punishment fit the crime? How do I raise a personal grievance if I think I was unjustifiably dismissed? We’ll answer these questions and more.

An employer who entices an employee into leaving a good job with promises of an even better job, and who subsequently makes the employee redundant, may find that its earlier representations amount to an estoppel which will support a conclusion that a fair and reasonable employer would not have dismissed the employee.

Workplace health and safety in New Zealand is changing considerably to dramatically reduce serious harm and fatalities.