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Employment Relations Act 2000

Personal grievances, disputes, and enforcement - Personal grievances

115A: Notifying controlling third party of personal grievance

You could also call this:

“Telling someone else who might be responsible for a problem at work”

This law explains how to notify a controlling third party about a personal grievance at work. You need to do this for section 103B. You can notify them in a few ways:

If you’re an employee, you can tell the controlling third party within the allowed time if you think they caused or helped cause your personal grievance.

If you’re an employer, you can tell the controlling third party within 90 days of your employee raising the grievance with you if you think the third party caused or helped cause it.

The controlling third party can agree to be notified even after these time limits.

If the controlling third party doesn’t agree to be notified late, you or your employer can ask the Authority for permission to notify them late. The Authority will listen to the controlling third party before deciding and might set some conditions if they say yes.

If the Authority allows a late notification, they will tell you, your employer, and the controlling third party to use mediation to try to solve the problem.

In this law, the “90-day employer notification period” starts when the employee first tells the employer about the grievance. The “employee notification period” is explained in section 114(7). The “relevant notification period” means either the employee notification period or the 90-day employer notification period, whichever applies to your situation.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS363789.

Topics:
Work and jobs > Worker rights
Rights and equality > Anti-discrimination
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115: Further provision regarding exceptional circumstances under section 114, or

“The law allows extra time to raise a work complaint in special situations, like if you were too upset to do it earlier.”

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116: Special provision where sexual harassment alleged, or

“A rule that protects people who report sexual harassment by not allowing others to talk about their past relationships or what people say about them.”

Part 9 Personal grievances, disputes, and enforcement
Personal grievances

115ANotifying controlling third party of personal grievance

  1. For the purposes of section 103B, this section is complied with—

  2. when an employee—
    1. considers that the actions of a controlling third party caused or contributed to the personal grievance; and
      1. notifies the controlling third party of that fact within the applicable employee notification period; or
      2. when an employer—
        1. considers that the actions of a controlling third party caused or contributed to the personal grievance; and
          1. notifies the controlling third party of that fact within the 90-day employer notification period; or
          2. if the controlling third party has consented to being notified under subsection (2); or
            1. if the Authority has granted leave to notify the controlling third party under subsection (4).

              1. Subsection (1)(a) or (b) does not apply if the controlling third party consents to being notified after the expiration of the relevant notification period.

              2. If the controlling third party does not consent to being notified after the relevant notification period, the employee or the employer may apply to the Authority for leave to notify the controlling third party after the expiration of that period.

              3. On an application under subsection (3), the Authority, after giving the controlling third party an opportunity to be heard, may grant leave accordingly, subject to any conditions that it thinks fit, if the Authority considers it just to do so.

              4. In any case where the Authority grants leave under subsection (4), the Authority must direct the employee, the employer, and the controlling third party to use mediation to seek to resolve the personal grievance.

              5. In this section,—

                90-day employer notification period means the period of 90 days beginning with the date on which the employer’s employee raised the personal grievance with the employer

                  employee notification period has the same meaning as in section 114(7)

                    relevant notification period means the applicable employee notification period or the 90-day employer notification period.

                    Notes
                    • Section 115A: inserted, on , by section 7 of the Employment Relations (Triangular Employment) Amendment Act 2019 (LI 2019 No 36).
                    • Section 115A(1)(a)(ii): amended, on , by section 8(1) of the Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 28).
                    • Section 115A(2): amended, on , by section 8(2) of the Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 28).
                    • Section 115A(3): amended, on , by section 8(3) of the Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 28).
                    • Section 115A(6) 90-day employee notification period: repealed, on , by section 8(4) of the Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 28).
                    • Section 115A(6) employee notification period: inserted, on , by section 8(5) of the Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 28).
                    • Section 115A(6) relevant 90-day notification period: repealed, on , by section 8(4) of the Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 28).
                    • Section 115A(6) relevant notification period: inserted, on , by section 8(5) of the Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 28).