| Restrictions | OK |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Employment Relations Authority - Auckland |
| Reference No | AA 199/10 |
| Hearing date | 26 Apr 2010 |
| Determination date | 30 April 2010 |
| Member | R Arthur |
| Representation | M Steele ; J Turner |
| Location | Whangarei |
| Parties | Heller v Atlas Quarries Ltd |
| Summary | RAISING PERSONAL GRIEVANCE - Applicant sought leave to raise grievance out of time - Applicant’s representative (“X”) initially claimed raised grievance within time and accused respondent of misplacing or discarding letter raising grievance - X subsequently found letter, apologised and claimed “I think I may have been drunk and thought I had sent it” - Applicant then claimed made reasonable arrangements to have grievance raised by X but X unreasonably failed to ensure grievance raised in time - Applicant visited X for social reasons about two months after made redundant - Applicant and X had personal connections - When told of applicant’s redundancy X offered to raise grievance on applicant’s behalf - Applicant signed document drafted by X authorising X to act as representative - Document included paragraph giving X fee of 20 percent of any settlement on no win no fee basis - X drafted letter which appeared to have not been sent and then took no further action until about eight months later - Authority found merely appointing X as representative did not constitute reasonable arrangements - Found no evidence applicant provided X with instructions or details of grievance - Found applicant did not follow up or check what steps X taking - Found not situation where applicant engaged lawyer or professional advocate who could be relied on to carry out work in timely way - Found was situation involving a friend with no real expertise and where discussion of grievance took place in solely social context involving alcohol - Found reasonable arrangements in those circumstances required applicant to make further inquiries of what X would do - Found applicant failed to make reasonable arrangements to have personal grievance raised by X - Applicant claimed employment agreement (“EA”) did not contain explanation of employment relationship problem resolution - Respondent acknowledged EA’s reference to Employment Contracts Act 1991 (“ECA”) inadequate - Reference subsequently updated to Employment Relations Act 2000 (“ERA”) - Found reference to raising personal grievance in separate sentence to inaccurate reference to ECA - Found EA clearly conveyed substantive requirements of raising personal grievance within 90 days - Found technical inaccuracy of other provisions did not amount to exceptional circumstance warranting leave to raise grievance out of time - No exceptional circumstances found - Application to raise grievance out of time declined - Authority noted that while s236 Employment Relations Act 2000 allowed employees to choose “any other person” to represent them was on understanding or expectation that person would do so responsibly - Driver/Quarry worker |
| Result | Application dismissed ; Costs reserved |
| Main Category | Raising PG |
| Statutes | ECA;ERA s6(2)(vi);ERA s115;ERA s236 |
| Cases Cited | Creedy v Commissioner of Police [2008] ERNZ 109 |
| Number of Pages | 6 |
| PDF File Link: | aa 199_10.pdf [pdf 20 KB] |