A recent Employment Relations Authority decision is a good reminder that you need to keep your eye on the aim of the exercise when deciding whether or not it is worth keeping on arguing rather than settling an employment dispute.

In the case the employee claimed over $250,000 and was awarded $122,000 (around half).  On top of that the employee was awarded $92,000 costs (actual amount spent $210,000 – a significant portion being expert accounting fees) the employee therefore achieved a net gain of just over $4,000.

The employer had offered $80,000.  If accepted by the employee they would have been way ahead of the $4,000 gained.  Even if costs had been incurred to that point they would still have been tens of thousands ahead of their final position.

The employee offered to accept $135,000.  The employer had to pay $214,000 to the employee and probably spent another $200,000 on their case so they spent over $400,000 when they could have settled for $135,000 plus some costs to that point.

Fighting in Court meant that the employer was about $260,000 worse off and the employee probably $60,000 worse off than if either had accepted the other’s offer.

If they were given this reality check by their representatives then they must have been after some other aim but it was certainly an expensive one to go for, even for the “winner”.

Keep your end aim in mind when considering where to next and get this reality checked by your professional advisers as you go.  Not all claims involve these sorts of numbers, but if you need advice on defending an employment claim give me a call on (04) 473 6850.