Personal Grievances – unjustified disadvantages cost employers…

The financial penalties for a Personal Grievance (“PG”) can be severe.  In a recent case, an employee was awarded $18,000 because of a botched disciplinary process! The employer failed to advise the employee of the right to a support person and did not provide sufficient information to allow the employee to fairly prepare for the disciplinary meeting.

There are various grounds under which an employee can raise a PG – a formal complaint about an employment problem.  A ground that provides plenty of scope for raising a PG is that of “unjustified disadvantage”.

A PG for unjustified disadvantage requires an employee to show that their employment (or any condition of their employment) has been affected to their disadvantage by an unjustifiable action of their employer.  The key elements are: a disadvantage; which has come about by an unjustified action.

The disadvantage to the employee does not need to be material – that is, there does not have to be a financial loss or a demotion.  Instead, the employee simply has to show some disadvantage that has affected their employment.  It should be remembered however, that where the employee has been disadvantaged but the action which gave rise to the disadvantage was justified, there will not be grounds for a PG.

The wide scope for a disadvantage PG means that employers may find themselves liable for poor decisions in a variety of situations.  Examples of matters that have given rise to a disadvantage include:

• Disciplinary outcomes (where the employee’s employment was not terminated) – including where the employer didn’t follow a proper process;
• Suspensions – including where the employee wasn’t given an opportunity to comment on the appropriateness of suspension;
• Breaches of terms of the employment agreement;
• Bullying in the workplace that has gone unaddressed;
• Discrimination against an employee based on a complaint which the employee has not been made aware of; and
• Redundancy and restructuring situations – including where the employer didn’t follow a proper process.

It is important to invest your resources wisely from the outset and take early advice on your employment processes and practices.