When Personal Grievances go bad, and how to avoid it.

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Suing your old employer (or current) is a big deal, and a big play in life.  You hope it will go well, but it may go badly.  I can’t guarantee it will go well, but I can point out some existing, well-trodden pathways to bad outcomes.

The first two deal with your relationship with your representative, and I’m not here to promote or demote any particular way you could be represented.  But things aren’t always going to go perfectly, and these are just some ways they go badly.

Everyone loses when lawyers fight

Like an online war in the comments section, it’s easy to have major arguments over little issues.  If you’re paying your representative by their time (the common charging method for lawyers) your costs can blow out if they fight extensive and aggressively over both the minor and the major issues.  Unless you personally are wealthier than your employer, a war of attrition isn’t going to go well.

This is hard to control because you’ve engaged them for their expertise, and it’s difficult check on whether what they are doing is important.  Perhaps the simplest way it set a budget and communicate that to them, and remind them frequently.  This will run the risk that they see this as a target though.

Your representative may be looking for a quick deal

At the other end of the spectrum to the pay-per-hour lawyer, is the no-win, no-fee advocate.  These arrangements diminish your risk, and remove your need for cash up front.  But it does mean that your representative is working to their own agenda of ‘minimal effort for maximal gains’, so you may see the opposite to the above, of limited engagement and effort on their part. 

There is nothing wrong with such ‘marriages of convenience’ but make sure you are clear from the onset what you are looking for (see here) and communicate what you are looking for, and have that upfront conversation with your representative and come to an agreement with them, so you can hold them to this.

It escalates out of control

Like the Ron Burgundy meme, conflict can escalate, and escalate quickly (see here for more on escalation).   When cases go to court, then to the Appeals court, and then to the Supreme court, I’d love to have a time machine, and ask those involved if they want things to go that far?  Because I’m pretty sure no one wanted it to go that far- so often big cases, and big bills, and great drama start with little things, and are paved with missed opportunities to compromise and resolve.

It’s easy to start a PG, but can be much harder to end.  I’m not saying don’t do it, but knowing what you want from the start (writing it down is a good idea) can keep the financial and emotional costs from blowing out.

You lose and get hit with the costs

You may not win.   You may be wrong, or you may not be able to prove you were right.  Although employees have a good track record in the courts (at least in NZ) some lose their cases, and I would imagine many of them turned down settlement options along the way.

In NZ (see here) you can be forced to pay the costs of your employer, which means you can end up paying your legal bills, and those of the employer, which can be financially crippling.  It’s not possible for me to give you any idea of likelihood here, but beware if you’re pushing an agenda with a poor prognosis, this could really hurt you and your family’s finances.

You lose your reputation

You might win the battle but lose the war (you might lose both).  You might work in a small industry or your employer might be the only gig in town, so your career might never recover- in fact, you may never work in this industry again.  Win or lose, you may stand to lose both your legacy, and your future earnings.

I’m not saying this is right.  Hollywood as an example of an industry where careers are reputably ruined by the ‘difficult’ tag, labels applied in some cases fairly and in others extremely unfairly. But it does happen, and you need to think about it, and weigh these risks.

It is worth mentioning that you can apply for name suppression, and it’s not for me to give you an approximation of your chances, but I would note that these seem to be given rarely, even rare for them to be permanent, and typically are for when vulnerability is a factor. 

The sunk cost fallacy

This isn’t really a different point; more a phenomenon that either underpins and exacerbates all of the above.  Humans have cognitive biases (see here for an more accurate description), and one at play here is the sunk cost fallacy.  This is where people continue with bad decisions because they have already invested (time and/or money) in them, throwing good money/time after bad.  It’s one of the reasons why people stay in cults, pyramid schemes, and continue to back corrupt politicians.  If you want to be smart, start the journey, but set a ‘bail out’ point, like you were at a house auction.