Our Expert Employment Lawyers can Assist with the Following Areas:
- Employment Agreements
- Personal Grievances & Complaints
- Employee Dismissal
- Restructuring & Redundancy
Employment Agreements
Before hiring anyone new, you must provide an Employment Agreement and give your prospective employee a reasonable opportunity to review it before signing. If you want to be able to enforce the clauses in your Employment Agreement, you must make sure the contract is signed and returned to you before they start working.
How accurate is your Employment Agreement?
It may be tempting to use one of the free Employment Agreement templates available online. However, more often than not, they do not reflect actual conditions at your workplace. A tailored Employment Agreement will help you manage and negotiate potential employment issues before they become disputes.
Personal Grievances & Complaints
Successful businesses rely on solid cooperation and teamwork. So, what do you do if someone raises a complaint (employment relationship problem) or personal grievance?
Grievances or complaints could be about workplace bullying, sexual harassment, unfair dismissal, or discrimination due to race, age, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.
In the event of a grievance or complaint, your next words and actions must be carefully thought out. Responding can involve mediation through the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, or privately with your employee’s lawyer or advocate.
We can advise you on the process and possible outcomes, as well as negotiate, represent and mediate on your behalf with your employee’s lawyer.
Employee Dismissal
There are many reasons for wanting an employee to leave. Poor productivity, worrisome or disruptive behavior, or incompatibility with your team culture are all valid, serious workplace behaviours that must be addressed. If dismissal is an appropriate solution, it must be handled properly.
To prevent any challenges or personal grievance claims, you will have to justify your actions, in a way that proves the actions you took were what a fair and reasonable employer would have done under the circumstances.
Our Employment Law Team can help you follow due process around employee dismissal or disciplinary action, protecting you and your Christchurch business against disputes in the future.