What happens when you raise a Personal Grievance?

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So what happens when you raise a PG, what steps, events, actions, responses are going to be happen?

You’ve got 90 days- so get on with it

It’s in the law (for NZ, see here for more) that most problems need to be formally raised within 90 days.  This is discussed more here, but what you need to know is that you’ve only got 90 days to tell your employer formally that you dispute their vision of the future (see here for more on this).

Your representative writes to your employer

You can represent yourself, so this could be you, but generally it’s going to be your representative.  They write to your boss, the CEO, HR- it varies depending on the situation, but they get your problem in front of the official person saying what you have a problem with, and what you want. This is either change (if you’re still there) or remedies (if you’ve gone, i.e. compensation or reinstatement (see here for more on reinstatement).

Communication reduces and goes formal only

Typically your representative will request (arguably they instruct) the employer not to talk to you about this, but only communicate through them.  This is particularly valid if you still work there, but even if you’ve left, it will likely be seen as bad faith if the employer is trying to communicate and persuade the employee without their representative. 

This does escalate the tension (see here for more on escalation) and increases the rift.  Things will be tense between you and the employer, especially if your representative has been aggressive in their correspondence.  This can be difficult if you are, or wanted to remain friends or on friendly terms with management.  Unfortunately you can’t have it both ways; you can’t sue your boss and stay friends with them.

Your employer and your representative might agree a deal

This happens sometimes; your representative approaches your employer and they do a deal straight away.  These deals are rare, but they do happen.  Typically they only happen when the employer knows they’ve made mistakes (and if they knew this already, why did they make them?), they are prepared to do a deal, the money in discussion is a reasonable amount, and they are prepared to sort it out before costs blow out.  If this happens, you’ll probably still need to sign a settlement (see here for more on this)

You go to mediation

At mediation, you strike deals, and most likely you’ll end up in mediation.  There is much to talk about, so see here  at mediation, and here for how to prepare,  but to focus on the big picture, this is where a deal could be struck.  This is a negotiation, and although there are a lot of factors, they are can be loosely grouped into two; what are the perceived merits of the case, and how willing are the parties to go to court. 

You got to court

At court, the judge decides.  This isn’t the correct terminology for NZ (see here for more), but the important point is this where the judge decides whether the employer’s actions were right or wrong (it could be the employee’s but rarely).  It’s pretty much winner takes all, although awards can be reduced for contribution- see here for how contribution works.