Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

 Plain Language Law homepage
Back to
159AA: When mediation in relation to breach of employment standards is appropriate
or “The Authority can only suggest talking it out for small job rule problems if it's faster, cheaper, or both sides agree.”
You could also call this:

“The Employment Relations Authority must deal with cases that have already tried mediation before looking at other cases.”

When you have a problem at work that you want the Employment Relations Authority to look into, and you’ve already tried to solve it through mediation, the Authority needs to deal with your case first. They must look at your problem before other cases that haven’t been through mediation. This is because they want to give priority to issues where people have already tried to work things out.

However, there are two times when the Authority might not put your case first. One is if they think mediation wouldn’t be helpful for your situation. The other is if there’s a special kind of case that the law says is very important. These special cases can jump to the front of the line, even if they haven’t tried mediation yet.

The Authority decides if mediation would be helpful by looking at the rules in section 159(1) or (1A). These rules help them figure out if mediation is the right way to handle your problem.

The special cases that can skip ahead are described in section 161(1)(la) of the law. These are treated as very urgent, so the Authority can look at them right away, even before cases that have been through mediation.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

Next up: 160: Powers of Authority

or “The Employment Relations Authority can do many things to sort out workplace problems, like asking for information and talking to people.”
Next

Part 10 Institutions
Employment Relations Authority

159ADuty of Authority to prioritise previously mediated matters

  1. This section applies if a matter comes before the Authority for investigation and determination and an attempt has been made to resolve the matter by mediation.

  2. The Authority must give priority to investigating and determining the matter referred to in subsection (1) over any other matters in which mediation has not been used unless the Authority considers that providing mediation services would be inappropriate having regard to section 159(1) or (1A).

  3. Despite subsection (2), the Authority may give priority to proceedings referred to in section 161(1)(la) over other matters, even if no attempt has been made to resolve the subject matter of those proceedings by mediation.

Notes
  • Section 159A: inserted, on , by section 28 of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 125).
  • Section 159A(3): inserted, on , by section 65 of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2014 (2014 No 61).