If you have raised a Personal Grievance with your Employer or previous employer (within the 90-day deadline), and you have not received a satisfactory response you can take the grievance to mediation.

What is mediation?

Mediation services are available to Employees as a method of solving employment problems before they go to the Employment Court (the ERA).  When needing to identify the issues, resolve disputes and reach an overall outcome a third party called a ‘Mediator’ is available to help.

A successful mediation aims to save time, energy and potential costs & losses. This is a semi-formal, confidential option which allows parties to negotiate and focus on interests, agendas and opportunities to move beyond the issue at hand.

We wouldn’t take you to mediation without first assessing you have a good case and being confident that we can get you your desired outcome.

Why should you take an Employment Law Advocate to mediation?

We are experts in New Zealand Employment Law. We know your rights, we have a lot of experience with these matters, and we know what financial (and other) compensations are appropriate.

Most often the employer will bring an Employment Lawyer or Employment Advocate themselves and if you are representing yourself this can put you at a disadvantage both emotionally and intellectually.  You can represent yourself, but knowing your rights and being able to stay calm and open-minded during the process is important.

To ensure the best outcome we recommend you seek representation by someone who has legal experience such as an employment advocate, employment lawyer or even a community leader.  Employment Lawyers usually charge by the hour.  Because the mediation process can be quite time consuming it can be very expensive to hire an Employment Lawyer. Work Law Employment Advocates offer a No Win No Fee option for cases that meet our criteria.  It’s free to discuss your case with us for a free and confidential evaluation.

Our Advocates are legal experts, with specialised knowledge of employment law. We can represent you all the way to the Employment Court if necessary.   Our fees are much less than it would cost to use a lawyer.  We will take your case to mediation if we think we can get you a financial outcome. You don’t pay us unless we do.

Our Employment Advocates  will:

• help you prepare for mediation,
• gather facts,
• set out the law
• identify the most appropriate solution for the issue,

We attempt to obtain a fair compensation based on the facts presented and the ways in which your employer may have breached your rights under NZ Employment Law.

Having an Advocate represent you does not mean that you will not be involved.  Keeping involved in the process will be beneficial to voice any concerns you may have, and give the other party a chance to consider what you are saying. This can be one of the most important parts of your mediation.

You are also able to bring along a support person to your mediation should you wish. The role of a support person is to provide you with emotional support throughout the process.

At a successful mediation, both sides get to agree on the outcome.

Unsuccessful Mediation;

Most of the time mediation is successful.  But occasionally things take a little longer.

If no agreement is reached the case may be escalated to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA).
Sometimes the ERA Member will direct you back to mediation.

At the ERA the final outcome is decided by the authority member (Judge) and neither party will have a say in the settlement. The danger in taking disputes to the ERA is the chance of loss and that you may be ruled against. In some cases, costs may be awarded against you, if you are seen to be the person that is in the wrong.

See our page on ERA to get further information on this option.

If an employer puts pressure (directly or indirectly) on an employee to resign or makes the situation at work intolerable for the employee, it may be a forced resignation or “constructive dismissal”.

A constructive dismissal – forced resignation is where:

• the employer has behaved in a way deliberately aimed at causing the employee to resign
• the employee is told to choose between resigning or being dismissed
• there has been a breach of duty by the employer (i.e. a breach of the employment agreement or of fair and reasonable treatment) such that the employee feels he or she cannot remain in the job.

However, not all conduct that upsets an employee will be enough to lead to a constructive dismissal. The conduct must be sufficiently serious to justify the employee leaving his or her job. Also, there must be a substantial risk that the employee would leave his or her job as a result of the employer’s conduct, and this risk must have been reasonably foreseeable to the employer.

If an employee feels that they are being pressured to resign then best practice is to raise this with their employer so that there is an opportunity to discuss the issue and try to resolve it. If the matter cannot be resolved and the employee feels that they had no choice but to resign, then the employee can challenge the forced resignation by raising a personal grievance.

Always call us first, once you resign it is harder for us to get you a settlement.

If your boss asks you to resign, ask him/her to put it in writing eg a text or email.

Have you already resigned?

If you can answer yes to the questions below, then you may have good grounds to claim you have been constructively dismissed.

• Did you really have no choice?
• Did you try everything you could to resolve the situation before resigning?
• Do you have good evidence of what you claim as the cause of your resignation?
• Some other examples
  • If you are given the option to resign or be demoted
  • If you feel you are working in an Unsafe Workplace
  • Assault on an employee
  • Abuse of an employee

We are a No Win No Fee organisation. This means that we will only charge a fee if we are successful in obtaining a financial settlement for you in addition to other terms of the settlement, e.g. written apology and reference, changed from being fired to having resigned. Contact us through our contact form. or call our helpline : 0800 NO WIN NO FEE

Being in an unsafe working environment can make your job increasingly difficult. Employers must provide a safe workplace, with proper training, supervision and equipment. This duty includes identifying, assessing and managing hazards in the workplace, and investigating health and safety incidents in the workplace.

Employees must take reasonable care to keep themselves safe and to avoid causing harm to other people by the way they do their work.

Employees may refuse work likely to cause them serious harm and employees have the right to participate in improving health and safety.

If you feel that you are working in an unsafe environment you should raise the issue with your employer. Wherever possible, you should raise the issue in writing, via email, and ask for a response. If your employer is unwilling to discuss or resolve the issue – contact us, our company can assist you in dealing with your concerns.

Please provide a timeline of events, and any evidence of you making your employer aware of the situation.

Bullying and harassment is also a health and safety issue. See our page on bullying here: Bullying In The NZ Workplace.

Deductions on wages are governed by the Wages Protection Act 1983.  No payments can be unlawfully deducted from wages.

It is the duty of the employer to make regular returns on PAYE on your behalf. Other deductions may apply including KiwiSaver, child support payments and student loan repayments. If you encounter a problem on payments of your tax, we can help investigate. We can help ensure you are being paid above minimum wage for hours worked and, according to the employment contract you are being paid at the correct rate.

If you have a problem with your employer making Unlawful Deductions from your wages, we can help you get your money back and also help resolve any dispute you have with matter that led to the deduction. We can also help you if your wages are underpaid or late paid outside statutory provisions. We can look at your holiday entitlements that should be reflected in your pay.

Where you have any concerns regarding your pay contact us to discuss. Sometimes a wage problem is the beginning of a bigger problem with your employer. We can act quickly on your behalf to keep things from escalating.

A casual employee has no guaranteed hours of work, or regular pattern of work, and has no ongoing expectation of employment. If you are truly a casual the employer has no obligation to offer you work.

There can be a thin line between permanent and casual employment. In some cases, employment may start on a casual basis, but evolve over time to be permanent – even if the parties don’t realise this has happened. There are several points of reference that need to be determined in order to decide if on the facts a particular job is permanent or casual. Such points include the following:

• A person may be considered a permanent employee if they are found to regularly work for the employer. However, where any such employee has signed an employment agreement which designates employment as casual then it will be more difficult, but not impossible, to argue that such employment is in fact permanent.
• A part-time employee is likely to be classed as a permanent employee if that employee reasonably held an expectation of a continued offer of regular employment by the employer.
• Initial casual employment may change to permanent employment if there is evidence that, over time, such employment evolved from irregular and uncertain work to a regular and certain pattern of employment by the employer.

In the absence of a written employment agreement, a casual employee may be considered a permanent employee if they regularly work for the employer.

We can help you determine whether your employment is casual or part-time and pursue any grievance you may have arising from your employment.