| Restrictions | OK |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Employment Relations Authority - Auckland |
| Reference No | AA 470/10 |
| Hearing date | 19 Oct 2010 |
| Determination date | 04 November 2010 |
| Member | Y S Oldfield |
| Representation | C Jordan (in person) ; P Woodhams |
| Location | Auckland |
| Parties | Jordan v Compass Communications Ltd |
| Summary | RAISING PERSONAL GRIEVANCE - Whether grievance raised within 90 days - Applicant claimed dismissal for serious misconduct unjustified and commission payments received less than entitled to - Respondent claimed grievance not raised within 90 days and did not consent to grievance being raised out of time - Applicant claimed grievance raised with respondent’s general manager (“W”) via email within 90 days - Authority found grievance raised with employer as soon as employee had made, or had taken reasonable steps to make, employer or representative of employer aware that alleged personal grievance that wanted employer to address - Authority found would not be satisfied grievance raised where was uncertainty about nature of grievance or where unclear whether grievant definitely pursuing matter - However, no particular formula of words required to raise grievance provided employer made sufficiently aware of grievance to be able to respond - Found nowhere in emails to W did applicant expressly state was raising personal grievance with respondent - However, found did continually refer to fact was preparing to lodge grievance in Authority - Found taken as a whole correspondence from applicant to W made it clear applicant considered had been unjustifiably dismissed, and why, and that sought redress - Found also clear wished to put respondent on notice of that fact - Authority satisfied that within 90 days of dismissal applicant had taken reasonable steps to make W aware alleged personal grievance and wanted it addressed - Grievance raised within time - Authority noted claim for unpaid commission not subject to requirement to be raised within 90 days |
| Result | Application granted ; No order for costs |
| Main Category | Raising PG |
| Statutes | ERA s114;ERA s114(1);ERA s114(6) |
| Cases Cited | Creedy v Commissioner of Police [2006] ERNZ 517 |
| Number of Pages | 6 |
| PDF File Link: | aa 470_10.pdf [pdf 24 KB] |