ERA hearing ordered to be held in private…

The Employment Relations Authority has agreed to an employer’s request that the hearing not be open to the public and that publication of details be prohibited. This is contrary to the normal rule of hearings being open to the public so that justice is not only done, but seen to be done.

The ERA held that there would be a large amount of commercially sensitive information given in evidence and that it would be commercially damaging to the employer for a competitor to be allowed to attend and listen to the evidence or for it to be published by the media.

Names of the employer’s clients were also suppressed to protect their privacy.

Alan Knowsley