Additional benefits agreed to in employment negotiations should be included in written agreements…

An employee has resigned after failing to receive a performance bonus, flights to the Philippines and a food allowance. The employee claimed that the employer agreed to pay these additional benefits to him during their employment negotiations.

The Employment Relations Authority rejected the employee’s personal grievance claim for unjustified disadvantage.

The ERA noted that while the parties had discussed the provision of a meal allowance, the employee had agreed to an increase in salary which would compensate for this.

The ERA found that the employer had not agreed to the other benefits as it was not the employer’s normal practice to provide them, and the approval of the Board was required.

The ERA noted that even if the additional benefits had been agreed to, there was no certainty around those terms to make them enforceable. The ERA noted that the employee’s employment agreement required any additional terms to be recorded in writing.