Employment Law Changes in Employer Favour – No Remedies for Bad Behaviour

The Government has proposed amendments to the Employment Relations Act 2000 aimed at reducing financial remedies to zero for employees who file personal grievances but have also exhibited poor behaviour.

Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, Brooke van Velden, expressed concern that current laws potentially encourage employees to raise grievances in hopes of receiving payouts - even when their own conduct which has caused the situation is in serious question.

The proposed changes seek to adjust the remedies available to such employee litigants, potentially eliminating the ability to claim compensation in cases where an employee engages in serious misconduct or acts egregiously.

Brook van Velden also wants to remove the ability for an employee to be reinstated back into their job where their behaviour contributed to the dispute. Reinstatement is currently a primary remedy available to employees to claim where they are unjustifiably dismissed.

The Bill has not yet been drafted and will be very interesting to see how it will be structured. Currently Employment Relations Authority members are able to reduce awards and financial remedies made against employers based on an employee's contribution to the situation. The fact is however they rarely do, or certainly not to anywhere near the values awarded to an employee.

Recently we saw a case involving a 90 Day Trial Period (90dtp) successfully challenged. This followed an employer terminating an employee under the 90dtp. However, the employment agreement was not signed by the employee prior to starting employment and therefore the 90dtp was deemed invalid and thus the subsequent termination unjustified. The Employment Relations Authority Member recognized that the employee's behaviour had contributed to the situation, but only gave a very modest 10% discount, bringing the total awarded to the employee down to $27,000.00, which is still a relatively high award in view of the employee's contribution.

This initiative reflects the Government's commitment to ensuring that the legal framework remains fair and balanced for both employers and employees.

The proposed changes will be welcome news for employers and businesses - it strengthens their ability to defend personal grievance claims while giving them more certainty & reducing their costs. Employers Assistance will provide further updates on this proposed legislative change after the Bill is introduced to Parliament in the coming year.