Proposed Change to Remedies : PG : Employment Relations Act.

Change to Remedies

Currently if an Employee is successful in their grievance they may be entitled to a number of remedies such as loss of wages, loss of benefits, reinstatement and hurt and humiliation compensation.

An Employee may face a reduction in a claim for hurt and humiliation due to their own actions or behaviour that may have led to being dismissed. This reduction is calculated as to what proportion of their actions or behaviour contributed to the dismissal.

Proposed change

The reasons given for the proposed changes to the personal grievance process for Employees is to “rebalance” the process, and to not reward bad behaviour. If the Employee’s actions amount to serious misconduct and contribute to the grievance, they will not be able to claim any remedies such as reinstatement, lost wages, lost benefits and hurt and humiliation compensation.

If the Employee’s actions only amount to misconduct, but still contributed to the grievance then they do not receive remedies of reinstatement , loss of benefits or compensation for harm and humiliation. However the Employee may be able to claim loss of wages but that is able to be reduced up to 100%

Impact

These changes are likely to make it very difficult financially for Employees to progress a personal grievance claim. Even if an Employee is successful in proving their dismissal is unjustified, if their conduct is determined to be serious misconduct they are not to be awarded any remedies, or limited remedies if misconduct.

There may be dismissals that do not have a finding of misconduct or serious misconduct, such as for medical incapacity or redundancy which may still allow Employees to be able to claim the full range of remedies available.

Employers may no longer be motivated to settle at mediations if they believe that their financial risk is limited at the Employment Relations Authority [ERA] and court.

The proposed Bill does not define what serious misconduct will look like to prevent an Employee receiving remedies. Instead it is likely the courts will be guided by the Employer’s agreement and policies to see what is written and identified as serious misconduct.

The proposed Bill does not identify what level of contribution is needed from an Employee to prevent them from receiving remedies.

Once it is established there has been some form of misconduct the Employee is likely to lose most, if not all, remedies available in law even if the unjustified action or dismissal is proven.

Advice

Belonging to a Union means greater involvement and oversight into Employers policies and procedures Unions are usually involved as to how disciplinary investigations are conducted, on what grounds, and how issues are resolved.

The Union’s collective agreement with the Employer usually contains agreed processes and may identify what serious misconduct looks like. This can be invaluable to an Employee and reduce the risk of an Employer claiming actions are serious misconduct .

Disclaimer: these are opinions and views of NUPE and should not be substituted for legal advice. If this article has raised any questions or concerns please contact us directly

Public submissions are now being called for the Employment Relations Amendment Bill 2025

The closing date for submissions is 2.00pm on Wednesday, 13 August 2025