Employment Relations Act 2000

Personal grievances, disputes, and enforcement - Remedies in relation to personal grievances

123: Remedies

You could also call this:

“The ways a worker can get help if they have been treated unfairly at work”

If you have a personal grievance at work, there are ways to address it. The Authority or court can decide on different solutions to help you.

They might tell your employer to give you your job back or put you in a similar position. If you lost money because of the problem, they can make your employer pay you back some or all of it.

Your employer might have to pay you extra money to make up for feeling upset or losing out on benefits you would have gotten if the problem hadn’t happened.

If the way people act at work caused your problem, the Authority or court can tell your employer how to stop it from happening again.

If someone sexually or racially harassed you, or treated you unfairly because they think you’re affected by family violence, the Authority or court can tell your employer what to do. This might include moving the person who caused the problem, disciplining them, or helping them change their behaviour. They can also suggest other ways to stop it happening to you or anyone else in the future.

Sometimes, if your employer doesn’t have much money, they might be allowed to pay you in smaller amounts over time instead of all at once.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM60364.

Topics:
Work and jobs > Worker rights
Rights and equality > Anti-discrimination

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122: Nature of personal grievance may be found to be of different type from that alleged, or

“A complaint about unfair treatment at work can be found to be a different kind of problem than what was first thought.”


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123A: Remedies where controlling third party caused or contributed to personal grievance, or

“A controlling third party can be made to pay or do something if they helped cause a worker's problem at work.”

Part 9 Personal grievances, disputes, and enforcement
Remedies in relation to personal grievances

123Remedies

  1. Where the Authority or the court determines that an employee has a personal grievance, it may, in settling the grievance, provide for any 1 or more of the following remedies:

  2. reinstatement of the employee in the employee's former position or the placement of the employee in a position no less advantageous to the employee:
    1. the reimbursement to the employee of a sum equal to the whole or any part of the wages or other money lost by the employee as a result of the grievance:
      1. the payment to the employee of compensation by the employee's employer, including compensation for—
        1. humiliation, loss of dignity, and injury to the feelings of the employee; and
          1. loss of any benefit, whether or not of a monetary kind, which the employee might reasonably have been expected to obtain if the personal grievance had not arisen:
          2. if the Authority or the court finds that any workplace conduct or practices are a significant factor in the personal grievance, recommendations to the employer concerning the action the employer should take to prevent similar employment relationship problems occurring:
            1. if the Authority or the court finds an employee to have been sexually or racially harassed in the employee’s employment, or treated adversely in the employee’s employment on the ground that the employee is, or is suspected or assumed or believed to be, a person affected by family violence, recommendations to the employer—
              1. concerning the action the employer should take in respect of the person who made the request referred to in section 108(1)(a) or was guilty of the harassing behaviour or of the adverse treatment on that ground, which action may include the transfer of that person, the taking of disciplinary action against that person, or the taking of rehabilitative action in respect of that person:
                1. about any other action that it is necessary for the employer to take to prevent further harassment, or adverse treatment on that ground, of the employee concerned or any other employee.
                2. When making an order under subsection (1)(b) or (c), the Authority or the court may order payment to the employee by instalments, but only if the financial position of the employer requires it.

                Compare
                • 1991 No 22 s 40
                Notes
                • Section 123(1)(ca): inserted, on , by section 42(1) of the Employment Relations Amendment Act (No 2) 2004 (2004 No 86).
                • Section 123(1)(d): replaced, on , by section 11 of the Domestic Violence—Victims' Protection Act 2018 (2018 No 21).
                • Section 123(1)(d): amended, on , by section 259(1) of the Family Violence Act 2018 (2018 No 46).
                • Section 123(2): added, on , by section 42(2) of the Employment Relations Amendment Act (No 2) 2004 (2004 No 86).