A large chunk of most people’s days is spent at work. When it is going well it can be a very rewarding part of life. But what happens when workplace relations sour? What remedies are available for employees?

If an employee is experiencing, discrimination, racism, harassment, or unjustifiable actions by an employer (or their representative) under the Employment Relations Act 2000, they can raise a personal grievance.

What is a personal grievance?

As defined in the Employment Relations Act a personal grievance is any complaint that an employee may have against their employer (or former employer). It also extends to an employer’s representative, such as an employee’s manager or supervisor.

What are the types of a personal grievance?

Some of the types of a personal grievance are:

• unjustifiable dismissal

• unjustifiable actions by an employer

• discrimination

• sexual harassment

• racial harassment

How to raise a personal grievance?

The first step is for the employee to look at the section in their employment agreement which explains what do to in case of an employment dispute. Every employment agreement should contain a plain language section on what services are available to resolve employment relationship disputes.

The next step is for the employee to raise the personal grievance with their employer. There are no set words or formula that must be used. However, what is important is that the employee makes their employer aware that they have a grievance and provides enough information so that the employer knows what to address to resolve the issues as quickly as possible. The grievance can be raised orally or in writing (although it pays to raise it in writing to avoid any confusion over who said what).

What is the time frame to raise a personal grievance?

The clock starts ticking for a personal grievance when the action alleged to amount to a grievance occurs, or when the grievance comes to the employee’s attention (whichever happens later). For most grievances this is 90 days. However, in the case of sexual harassment an employee has up to 12 months to raise a grievance.

What if the employee misses the deadline to raise the personal grievance?

The Act allows a grievance to be raised outside of the timeframe but only when an employee has the consent of their employer to do so. If the employer will not consent. then an employee can contact the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) to raise the grievance. However, the authority will only allow the grievance to be heard if the delay in raising it was due to exceptional circumstances, or the employee can prove that they tried to raise it earlier through an agent and that agent failed to raise it on time.

Next steps

If the employee is unable to resolve the grievance with the employer directly, the next step is to attend mediation. If mediation is unsuccessful then a claim can be filed with the ERA (with fees involved). The next step after the ERA would be to have the grievance heard in the Employment Court.

Remedies

The remedies available depend on the type of grievance raised and can include reinstatement of position, compensation, or reimbursement.

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