If you are an employee, you may find talk about changes being made to your role get your back up. You signed up to perform certain duties (hopefully set out in a job description). That’s what you committed to, and you’re aware that employment agreements can’t be changed unless both
“Oh no, I have a restraint of trade in my employment agreement!” That was the thought that went through the mind of a client of mine. He had already resigned and was looking forward to his new job. However, he had forgotten that, in the long distant past, he had
Suspending an employee from work is a serious matter. So much so that the Court of Appeal has described suspension as a “drastic measure“. Why is it serious, you ask? Well, for one, you risk breaching the employee’s employment agreement if, without good reason, you stop them from carrying out
Employees sometimes want to know whether something they have done is worthy of dismissal. Unfortunately, there are no stock answers. Employment law requires an assessment of fairness taking into account all of the circumstances. While it may be fair to dismiss an employee in one case for some particular conduct,
The answer for most difficulties in relationships, employment-related or otherwise, is to communicate more – not less. Nevertheless, communicating in a tense work environment, when making eye-contact is hard enough, can be very difficult. Additionally, we may wonder whether the other side is even going to listen. Will they be
Employers generally have no interest in treating their employees unfairly. It just isn’t good for business. As an employer, you likely know that if your staff are upset, they will be less productive. You also know that dealing with personal grievances consumes management time that could be better spent elsewhere.
You may be surprised to know that in some cases your employer can direct you to take some of your annual leave. That may seem outrageous to you. Isn’t your leave hard-earned and yours to take whenever you wish? Before you get too upset, you should know there are a
If you raise a personal grievance against your employer, you can ask the Employment Relations Authority to decide whether you have a claim and whether your employer should pay you anything for it. If a Member of the Authority considers that you have a valid personal grievance, they can order
Sometimes you don’t need an employee forever, but just for a short duration. However, you don’t want a casual employee – you want someone you can rely on to turn up and work a set number of hours every day, even if it is for a limited time. You are
There is more than one type of employment relationship, which means there is no “one-size-fits-all” employment agreement. So how do you know what employment agreement you should give your new recruit? That question can be answered by combining your answers to two more questions: Do you have an idea of
