In a recent Employment Relations Authority case an employer found out the hard way that not all meetings said to be “without prejudice” will be protected from disclosure.  The employer decided it wanted to get an employee to resign so called a meeting and asked the employee if she agreed to it being “without prejudice”.  The employee agreed.

During the meeting the employer made it very clear it wanted the employee to resign because of concerns over performance.  The employee refused to agree and filed a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal.

The employer at the hearing sought to keep the “without prejudice” meeting discussions confidential but the ERA ordered that the content of the meeting could be disclosed.

“Without prejudice” discussions are used when there is a dispute between the parties that the parties agree to try to settle.  The ERA held there was no dispute here to settle in the meeting.  The employee had no idea of the existence of any issues and had not been “in dispute” with the employer over any issues.

The ERA also held that the content of the meeting showed that the employer had already made up its mind to try to procure a resignation and that this meant that the employee was constructively dismissed and was awarded over $16,000 in damages and lost wages.

If you need help with dealing with employees we can assist you to get the process right.  Give me a call on (04) 473 6850.