Remember to raise your PG with your employer within 90 days….

An employer has failed to pay an employee for 10 weeks of work after the business began experiencing financial difficulties. The employee stopped coming to work when he could no longer afford petrol.

The Employment Court ordered the employer to pay the employee over $6,000 in lost wages for the 10 weeks he had worked unpaid, but found that the employee was not entitled to any further payment as the employment relationship had terminated when the employee did not return to work.

The employee was also not entitled to claim compensation for financial stress and emotional harm as he had not raised the grievance with his employer.

Employees must remember to raise a personal grievance with their employer within 90 days otherwise they will be unable to seek compensation.

Alan Knowsley

Employment Lawyer Wellington

New minimum wage rates...

From 1 April 2017 the minimum wage is $15.75 (up from $15.25) and the starting out workers and trainees minimum rate is $12.60 (up from $12.20).

Employer forced to compensate employees after ERA finds a culture of bullying in the workplace…

An employee has resigned after being bullied and intimidated by her manager and supervisor who told her that she was untrustworthy and evil.

The Employment Relations Authority upheld the employee’s personal grievance claim for unjustified constructive dismissal.

The ERA held that the actions of the employer’s staff had the cumulative effect of destroying the necessary relationship of trust and confidence in their employment relationship.

The ERA ordered the employer to pay the employee $10,000 in compensation for humiliation, loss of dignity and injury to feelings.

The ERA noted that this was their second finding against the employer over allegations of bullying by its staff this year. The ERA noted that the employer had previously been ordered to pay $15,500 in compensation to another one of their employees as a result of bullying in the workplace.

Alan Knowsley

Employment Lawyer Wellingto

Employee awarded $9,000 after being unjustifiably dismissed…

An employee has been dismissed following a dispute where it was alleged that he pushed one of his managers. The police were called to the workplace but had no recollection of ever being told someone had been pushed.

The Employment Relations Authority upheld the employee’s personal grievance claim for unjustified dismissal.

The ERA held that the employer failed to act as a fair and reasonable employer could in all of the circumstances by following an unfair dismissal process.

The ERA found that the employer relied almost entirely on the manager’s account of events and did not question the police officer present at the time during the disciplinary investigation.

The ERA found that the employer could not conclude that the employee had pushed his manager, and noted that the employee was not given a chance to talk directly to the employer about the incident.

The ERA ordered the employer to pay the employee $8,000 in compensation, after taking into account the employee’s contributory behaviour.

The employer was also penalised an additional $6,000 for failing to keep adequate wage and time records, of which $1,000 was awarded to the employee.

Alan Knowsley

Employment Lawyer Wellington

Employee unjustifiably dismissed after employer fails to pay his wages…

In a recent case, an employee was paid for his work undertaken in two cash payments. These payments did not fully recompense the employee for the number of hours he had worked. The employer promised he would pay the amounts outstanding but no further payments were ever made.

The Employment Relations Authority upheld the employee’s personal grievance claim for unjustified dismissal.

The ERA held that a reasonable person would have taken the employer’s refusal to pay the employee’s wages as a dismissal.

The ERA found that the employer’s dismissal process was defective. The employer failed to raise any concerns he had with the employee and failed to undertake any investigation. The employer also gave the employee no opportunity to respond to any concerns before dismissing him.

The ERA held that the immediate and abrupt dismissal resulted in unfairness to the employee.

The ERA ordered the employer to pay the employee over $7,500 in wage arrears for the 377 hours of work that the employee had received no pay for, plus $5,000 in compensation for humiliation, loss of dignity, and injury to feelings.

Alan Knowsley

Employment Lawyer Wellington

Employment Relations Authority imposes $6,000 on strawberry farm employer for failing to provide employment contracts…

The Employment Relations Authority recently penalised a company operating a strawberry farm after the company failed to provide employment contracts and accurate leave records for its employees.

The Ministry of Business received a complaint from an employee who said they were not provided with an employment contract and were not being paid to the minimum wage threshold. The Ministry of Business instructed a labour inspector who carried out an investigation over a period of four months. The labour inspector made findings that at least five employees who worked on the farm were not provided with employment contracts, two of those employees had no holiday pay or leave records kept by the company.

The Authority considered a number of factors before imposing the $6,000 fine. These factors included the wishes of the employees, harm experienced by the employees as a result of the breaches, the nature of the breaches, the deterrence effect of the penalty, the remorse of the employer, and whether any of the penalty proceeds should be paid to the employees. 

In this case, one of the employees had requested to be kept off the record, and some employees were backpackers lodging free from expense at the farm, the authority found this to show that minimal harm was suffered for these breaches. The Authority did not find it necessary or appropriate to pay some of the portion of the fine to the employees.

Alan Knowsley

Employment Lawyer Wellington