Employees

Unjustified Dismissal

Unfair dismissal happens when you are dismissed without proper grounds for your dismissal. These include conduct that is not sufficiently serious to warrant dismissal and also lack of proper procedure in the process of dismissing you.

You are entitled to have an advocate represent you at any disciplinary meeting preceding a decision to dismiss you. An advocate can also help you take a grievance for unfair dismissal and seek remedies.

Unfair dismissal also includes constructive dismissal where circumstances at your workplace have become so intolerable that you are forced to resign.

If you are dismissed or forced to resign, contact us to see if you have a grievance to file and seek remedies.

Redundancy and Restructuring

It can often be a better experience than first thought. It can include benefits and training that lead to a new and better career.

Maxron can help with advice on all possible benefits of redundancy and restructuring. We can guide you through the process and help obtain a good outcome for you.

We can also check out all aspects of the redundancy to see if it is a false redundancy and thereby an unjust dismissal providing grounds for a personal grievance.

Exit Packages, Leaving the Job

Often you can leave a bad job and get a better one later.

Part of the process of moving from one job to another is the exit package where the problems you have had at work can be put into a compensatory amount together with other  terminal benefits and payments.

Often there is a mutual desire for the parties to end the   employment relationship and so both parties might want to conclude an exit package quickly and smoothly.

Call Maxron to talk about exit packages and the benefits available on leaving a job.

90 Trial Periods

Have you been fired under a 90-day trial period? There are still ways in which you can have a grievance.

Your employer is still obliged to provide assistance, training, and support during the 90-day period. Any dismissal must still follow all due process and at all times the employer must be fair and reasonable in their dealings with you.

In these situations, I can offer to

  • Examine your agreement and its signing to see if the trial period is valid.
  • Look at whether you have a grievance for procedural defects in your dismissal under a 90-day trial period.
  • See if you have other circumstances that invalidate the 90-day trial period.
  • See if you have a claim for unjustified disadvantage. See if you have a claim based on other grounds such as sexual harassment.

Don’t think there is nothing you can do if you are fired within 90 days, ask us for advice

Personal Grievances

Personal grievances are legal claims you may take against your employer for such things as:

  • unjustified dismissal
  • unjustified forced resignation (constructive dismissal);
  • unjustified redundancy dismissal
  • unjustified "disadvantage" (demotions, cuts in pay, bullying etc.)
  • sexual harassment
  • breach of parental leave legislation
  • racial discrimination.

These claims can be filed in the Employment Relations Authority, but you must first attempt mediation directly with your employer or at the Mediation Service of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Initially on your behalf we will write to the employer notifying them of your grievance and then see if they are willing to attend mediation or possibly settling the matter. If your employer consents to mediate, we arrange a formal mediation at MBIE. Approximately two thirds of mediations result in a settlement.

If your employer refuses to attend mediation or that mediation was unsuccessful, you have the option of lodging your grievance with the Employment Relations Authority.