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Employment Relations Act 2000

Institutions - Employment Relations Authority

179: Challenges to determinations of Authority

You could also call this:

“Challenging an Employment Relations Authority decision: how to take it to court”

If you are not happy with a decision made by the Employment Relations Authority under section 174A(2), 174B(2), 174C(3), or 174D(2), you can choose to have the matter heard by the court. You must make this choice in the correct way and within 28 days of the decision. You need to say what decision you are unhappy with and whether you want the whole matter to be heard again.

If you do not want the whole matter to be heard again, you must say what you think went wrong, what questions you want answered, why you are making this choice, and what you want to happen. You must give enough information so the court and the other people involved understand what is going on. You must also say what you want the court to do.

You cannot make this choice for some types of decisions, like ones that are made orally or ones that are about how the Authority does things. This means that if the Authority makes a decision out loud, you cannot choose to have it heard by the court. It also means that if the Authority makes a decision about how it will do something, you cannot choose to have that decision heard by the court.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM60967.

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Part 10 Institutions
Employment Relations Authority

179Challenges to determinations of Authority

  1. A party to a matter before the Authority who is dissatisfied with a written determination of the Authority under section 174A(2), 174B(2), 174C(3), or 174D(2) (or any part of that determination) may elect to have the matter heard by the court.

  2. An election under subsection (1) must be made in the prescribed manner and within 28 days after the date of the determination.

  3. The election must—

  4. specify the determination, or the part of the determination, to which the election relates; and
    1. state whether or not the party making the election is seeking a full hearing of the entire matter (in this Part referred to as a hearing de novo).

      1. If the party making the election is not seeking a hearing de novo, the election must specify, in addition to the matters specified in subsection (3),—

      2. any error of law or fact alleged by that party; and
        1. any question of law or fact to be resolved; and
          1. the grounds on which the election is made, which grounds are to be specified with such reasonable particularity as to give full advice to both the court and the other parties of the issues involved; and
            1. the relief sought.

              1. Subsection (1) does not apply—

              2. to an oral determination or an oral indication of preliminary findings given by the Authority under section 174(a) or (b); and
                1. to a determination, or part of a determination, about the procedure that the Authority has followed, is following, or is intending to follow; and
                  1. without limiting paragraph (a), to a determination, or part of a determination, about whether the Authority may follow or adopt a particular procedure.

                    Compare
                    • 1991 No 22 s 95(1), (2)
                    Notes
                    • Section 179(1): replaced, on , by section 70(1) of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2014 (2014 No 61).
                    • Section 179(2): replaced, on , by section 70(1) of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2014 (2014 No 61).
                    • Section 179(5): added, on , by section 59 of the Employment Relations Amendment Act (No 2) 2004 (2004 No 86).
                    • Section 179(5)(aa): inserted, on , by section 70(2) of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2014 (2014 No 61).