Personal Grievances
What is a Personal Grievance?
A Personal Grievance is a formal complaint made by an employee against their current or former employer.
Personal Grievances are usually raised when other informal problem-solving methods such as talking have failed to resolve an issue.
Generally, a personal grievance needs to be raised in writing within 90 days of the issue occurring.
It is important that you raise your personal grievance clearly and in good detail with legal references in case of future proceedings.
If you think you have grounds to raise a personal grievance, but you are not sure how to do so, please contact us. We can arrange an employment advocate to help walk you through the process.
What qualifies as a Personal Grievance?
Personal Grievance claims can include but are not limited to:
- Unjustified Dismissal (unless the dismissal took place while the employee was on a valid 90 day trial period)
- Discrimination
- Sexual harassment
- Racial harassment
- Bullying (where the employee has raised the issue and not received a response or adequate action).
- Restructuring that causes redundancy (where it has not followed the correct process).
- Duress due to union membership.
- Unfair treatment of an employee who has lawfully refused work.
- An employer forcing or persuading an employee to not perform a function, exercise a power or undertake a role under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015
- An employer compelling an employee to work on a public holiday or treating a shop employee adversely because they refuse to work on a public holiday.
- Disadvantage to an employee due to the employment agreement not meeting the legal requirements for:
- Agreed hours of work.
- Availability provisions.
- Reasonable notice periods to be given before cancellation of a shift.
- Reasonable compensation to be paid if a shift is cancelled.
- Secondary employment provisions.
What is a Personal Grievance used for?
A Personal Grievance is a formal complaint made by an employee against their current or former employer.
Generally, a personal grievance needs to be raised in writing within 90 days of the issue occurring.
Often employers will choose to pay compensation to resolve personal grievance cases.
It is important that you raise your personal grievance clearly and in good detail with legal references in case of future proceedings.
If the employee does not correctly raise the issues in a personal grievance, it may affect the employees’ chances of getting the desired remedies and compensation in mediation or the Employment Relations Authority.
If you think you have grounds to raise a personal grievance, but you are not sure how to do so, please contact us. We can arrange an employment advocate to help walk you through the process.
How do I raise a Personal Grievance?
If possible, you should first discuss the problem with your employer. Your employer should be aware there is an issue and be given an opportunity to fix it. You should communicate about the issue in writing and ask for a response within a set time frame, eg 3 days.
You should clearly describe the issues and the events that have led to the problem. You should provide details such as names of the people who were present when there was a problem and the dates the issue occurred. Send the letter to your employer and keep a copy.
If the employer is unwilling or unable to resolve the issue you can request mediation. It is helpful to seek legal advice from an Employment Advocate or employment lawyer at this stage.
If you have any concerns, feel free to contact us.
