Govt opens door for grievance changes

The Government is opening the floodgates for employer grievances on how tough it is to fire staff, as it seeks to strengthen its case for amending personal grievance laws.

The Government plans to announce it will next month officially gather anecdotal accounts regarding the personal grievance system in New Zealand.

The Labour Department will hold interviews with 30 participants countrywide willing to share their experiences and views of the personal grievance system.

Among those sought are employees who considered taking a personal grievance through the formal channel, but did not proceed and instead took their grievance to mediation.

Also invited are employers who settled outside of the mandated personal grievance system.

By law, an employee who believes that he or she has a personal grievance may pursue that grievance under the Employment Relations Act.

But Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson said this week she already has anecdotal evidence that the law might not be working, prompting the Government decision to review the personal grievance law.

New Zealand Law Society Employment Committee convenor Michael Quigg says the society would support a system that allows meritorious personal grievance claims, but discourages frivolous ones.

"We do not want a system clogged by frivolous claims made by speculative individuals, or groups, just to claim 'go-away' money," Mr Quigg says.

Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly says frivolous claims put off companies from hiring new employees, especially unskilled or unqualified workers.

"What we need to be careful about is that we don't exclude people from the workforce unnecessarily because of fears that if things go wrong they're going to get an ambulance-chasing lawyer or representative after them," he says.

New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (CTU) president Helen Kelly says the move to regulate "no-win, no-fee" advocates who tend to operate among non-unionised workers would not concern the CTU.

But she has raised other concerns.

"Personal grievance laws are very, very fundamental to people's right and protection at work.

"Without them people will become vulnerable to bad employer behaviour," Ms Kelly says.

Among her other concerns include the appropriateness of remedies won through personal grievances, a concern shared by Mr Quigg.

Ms Kelly is also concerned that the Government may extend exclusions that cover the first 90 days of employment in small businesses to 200 days, and introduce the exclusions to larger businesses or change the requirements for fair process.

She says all of these would create more injustice for workers.

The research is seen to supplement the public submissions process that will accompany the proposed law change.

- © Fairfax NZ News