Articles related to ‘Employment’
Monday, 19 December, 2011 | Alan Knowsley
Dealing with employment disciplinary issues and performance reviews can be stressful for employers and there are steps which must be followed to ensure that you get the process correct. A failure to properly handle the investigation or review may result in a personal grievance claim and that can be expensive as well as the cause of wasted time which would be better spent on productive activities.
In this seminar I… Continue reading
Friday, 2 December, 2011 | Alan Knowsley
Courts are taking a tough and expensive approach when injuries occur. Employers have a duty to ensure their staff (and others) are safe in the workplace. A failure to prevent a fall in which an employee suffered a damaged knee and ankle has resulted in the employer being fined $15,000, and ordered to pay $12,000 reparation to the employee.
The company had failed to adequately identify, and then eliminate… Continue reading
Thursday, 1 December, 2011 | Alan Knowsley
In a recent case a nurse breached her contract and was dismissed by her employer, a District Health Board (DHB).
She felt she was unjustifiably dismissed and sought special leave to raise a personal grievance outside the 90 day time limit on the basis that she was not, during that time, in a mental state to consider taking action against the DHB.
To prove her state of mind… Continue reading
Monday, 14 November, 2011 | Alan Knowsley
In a recent Employment Relations Authority decision, an employee, who was a CEO of a large company, was awarded $10,000 compensation for hurt and humiliation due to a lack of consultation during a redundancy process.
The Authority held that the actual redundancy was genuine and that the employee’s position was “terminated for genuine commercial reasons.” However, the company failed to adequately consult with the employee before it made a… Continue reading
Tuesday, 8 November, 2011 | Alan Knowsley
Dealing with employment disciplinary issues and performance reviews can be stressful for employers and there are steps which must be followed to ensure that you get the process correct. A failure to properly handle the investigation or review may result in a personal grievance claim and that can be expensive as well as the cause of wasted time which would be better spent on productive activities.
In this seminar I… Continue reading
Monday, 26 September, 2011 | Alan Knowsley
At present there are many employers who require their employees to stay overnight as part of their job, asleep, but on duty if needed. These employees were often paid a flat rate for their overnight stay, rather than their usual hourly wage.
In 2007 an IHC support worker took his employer to the Employment Relations Authority, arguing that he should be paid at least the minimum wage for every… Continue reading
Monday, 5 September, 2011 | Alan Knowsley
In 2008, a young woman completed her teaching degree and obtained a job working for a Maori Trust as a career coach. However, from the start, things did not go well in her new job. From her perspective, she felt that not everyone at work appreciated her. Other staff thought that another person should have been appointed to the position, partly because “she did not look Maori enough.” These feelings… Continue reading
Monday, 5 September, 2011 | Alan Knowsley
As long as both the employer and employee agree, a new employee can be subject to a 90-day trial period. This allows the employer to fire the employee within the first 90 days of employment without giving them a reason. Furthermore, the employee may not raise a personal grievance for the dismissal.
However, it is crucial that the employer complies strictly to the requirements of the law if it… Continue reading
Monday, 5 September, 2011 | Alan Knowsley
The Employment Relations Authority recently held that an employee had been unjustifiably dismissed and it awarded six weeks lost pay plus $5,000 for hurt and humiliation suffered. The findings and associated remedies are not unusual; what was unusual is that the employee had not actually started working for the employer.
The facts of this case are that a trust and a man verbally agreed that the man would commence… Continue reading
Monday, 5 September, 2011 | Alan Knowsley
A business recently dismissed an employee for criticising the quality of the business’s products and its management. This was despite the fact that the employee had worked for the business for 39 years.
The employee in question was a salesperson and was visiting a client to discuss various aspects of the business with the client. Unknown to the employee, while talking to the client, he had accidently pressed a… Continue reading
