The Employment Court has found that an employer’s
performance improvement plan, which extended over seven months, resulted in
harm to an employee and therefore an unjustified disadvantage.
The employer was trying to manage the employee’s behaviour,
but knew of an underlying mental condition that the employee had which resulted
in extreme anxiety. This was made worse by the process, without the employer
seeking to obtain medical advice on the effects of the PIP on the employee. The Court held that that was not what a fair
and reasonable employer could do in the circumstances.
This became a health and safety issue as the employer
failed to ensure a safe work place for its employee, as it did not keep them
free from harm.
In addition the employer was also at fault because the
manager who was advancing the disciplinary process had been closely involved in
the performance improvement process, which had become increasingly fraught, and
having that manager involved was also not a step of a fair and reasonable
lawyer could have taken.
The damages that the employer will be liable to pay are
yet to be determined in a further hearing.
Alan
Knowsley
Employment
Lawyer Wellington
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