An employee resigned from his employment after
undergoing several disciplinary investigations in which he received multiple
written warnings.
The Employment Relations Authority rejected the
employee’s personal grievance claim for unjustified constructive dismissal. The
ERA held that the employee had to prove that the employer had followed a course
of action with the deliberate intention of attaining his resignation or that
the employer had breached a duty owed to the employee which caused him to
resign.
The ERA found that the employer did not breach
their duty to the employee by bullying him. The employee was unable to note any
specific instances of bullying and conceded that any remarks that were made
were insignificant. The employee never
raised allegations of bullying with the employer, who was never given an
opportunity to address them.
The ERA acknowledged the employer’s attempts to
discuss and resolve the employee’s concerns once they became aware of his
resignation and noted that the employer did not seek to terminate their
employment relationship after the employee admitted to making an inappropriate
sexual comment to one of his colleagues. The ERA held that these actions did not
show that the employer was seeking to facilitate the employee’s resignation.
Alan Knowsley
Employment Lawyer Wellington
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