TIPS FOR BUSINESS OWNERS WHEN HANDLING AN EMPLOYEE’S PERSONAL GRIEVANCE CLAIM
It can be confronting when, as an employer of a small business, you receive a personal grievance from an employee. Maybe you’ve gone above and beyond to support the employee, or perhaps there’s been performance issues in the past, and now you’re receiving a complaint? However, it’s important to take a deep breath, and respond carefully.
A personal grievance is a type of complaint or legal claim an employee can make when they feel they have been treated in an unfair, unreasonable or unlawful way. There are a range of personal grievances that can be made but generally they either fall into the camp of either an employee being unfairly dismissed, or disadvantaged in some way.
For most grievances employees have 90 days from the date of the relevant event happening (or from when the event came to their attention) to raise a grievance about it. The law recently changed to allow employees 12 months to raise a grievance if it relates to sexual harassment (if the event occurred after 13 June 2023).
What should you do when you receive a personal grievance?
Firstly, don’t panic, or rush to respond immediately. Read the grievance carefully and see what it relates to, and the date they claim the event(s) happened.
Secondly, take legal advice early on. There are many ways to resolve a personal grievance, depending on the circumstances and the outcome you are seeking. Planning a good strategy with your legal advisor early on is key to cost-effective resolution of the problem.
Thirdly, gather together the documents needed to support your likely response. If the employee has claimed there is an issue with how they have been paid, collect your wage and time records. If the employee is claiming that they were not consulted about a decision, find your diary notes, emails or calendar invites which show that you met with them. If the employee is claiming something which could be disproven by camera footage, secure the camera footage before it gets deleted. In essence, think about how you can respond to the grievance and what documentation or other evidence you need to pull together in order to back up your side of the story.
The road to resolution
Generally, the steps to resolving a grievance may involve negotiation, mediation or a hearing with the Employment Relations Authority. The majority of grievances resolve at the negotiation or mediation stages.
Tips for employers when handling a personal grievance
- Keep a cool head and take advice promptly.
- Realise that you have contractual obligations you may not be able to get out of i.e. you need to pay wages and leave entitlements owing (unless a lawful deduction can be made); these are not negotiable, even if the employee behaved has badly.
- Think about the outcome you want: restoration of relationship, a quick exit of the employee, or a principled (but more expensive) win?
- Keep good records! Whatever the outcome you seek, these are essential. It’s best practice to record every important meeting you have with an employee, make dated diary notes, and keep monthly review sheets, online meeting notes etc. You will thank yourself if an issue arises.
How can we help?
If you receive a personal grievance, WRMK’s experienced specialist employment team is happy to help guide you through the process of resolving it.
WRMK Lawyers has Northland’s largest team of employment law specialists. We help our clients with all their employment processes. If you need help or guidance, please give one of us a call or contact your usual WRMK lawyer for advice.
WRMK Lawyers takes all reasonable care to make sure that the information in this article is up-to-date and accurate at today’s date. It is necessarily general information and not intended as legal advice to be relied upon.
Our thanks to Kezia Purdie for writing this article.