FOR EMPLOYEES

Russ Consultants is an Employment Consultancy firm, dealing with employers and employees with any issue, problem, or concerns with the legal or management of the employment relationship.

Employees in New Zealand often fail to invest into their interests of the employment relationship or take ahold of their careeer, this often this leads to a lot of stress and anxiety when things go wrong.  A lot of this can be avoided from the start with a few hours of advice around your best interests. 

Employees themselves are a business; employed work gains income, no one other than yourself will get you further and you need to take action to get the most out of your employment.

It is often not until you gain our advice that you will see how it will reap its rewards in a better working environment as well as generally an increase in wages and conditions.

Employment Agreements (Contracts): In New Zealand the pc word for a Employment Contract is an Employment Agreement.  Employment Agreements can be either a collective that is negotiated by a Union on your behalf as a union member or individual which is negotiated by both yourself and employer.

All Employees and Employers MUST have an employment agreement.  Having an employment agreement has been law since 1991.  An employment agreement is a written agreement of the terms of employment.  To have such an agreement, both parties must have negotiated and agreed upon all the terms before the agreement is signed to be legally binding.

Employees who are Union members need to deal with their Union on all employment issues as that is why you are a Union member.  If you have an issue with your employment and are a Union member, contact your Union first.

Individual Agreements are to be negotiated by both parties, once agreed upon, drawn up in an agreement and signed.  Certain terms must be included within the agreement that are required by law like, hours, rate of pay, disciplinary procedures, place of work, type of work.

Most Individual Agreements are not negotiated by employees as well as they could, most accept what is offered to them at the commencement of employment without properly negotiating the agreement.

Russ Consultants will on your behalf negotiate your new or existing agreement with your employer for a pre-arranged commission.  The consultation for us to consider this is in most cases at no charge.

Russ Consultants will go over the individual agreement you are offered and give you a written report on the terms, their meanings, and any areas of concern or that we feel you need to negotiate with your employer.  The fee for this is $30.

In negotiating an agreement, if both parts to an Individual come to a brick wall, there is always the option of a \"Rights Dispute\", if it is good enough for the All Blacks over their 2003 World Cup Bonus, it is good enough for any other employee who desires to utilize it.

Personal Grievances: The first step in any issue an employee has with their employer is handled with a personal Grievance.  Russ Consultants will help employees with how they should approach the PG and construct the letter.  In most situations we will assist with PG\'s without any charge.

It is always advised to present a Personal Grievance in Writing and request for the reply to be in writing.  The employer must reply within 14 days of you giving your personal grievance.

We also advise people to keep a file of all wage slips, talks with the employer, personal grievances and a diary of events.  An individual can refer back to prior personal grievances up to three years after they were issued to the employer if so desired.  If ever you have a concern the first thing to do is issue the employer with a Personal Grievance.

Mediation: If at any stage you have a Personal Grievance that the employer has not handled properly or you feel that you are due more, the matter can be taken to mediation.

Mediation is a service that is provided for free from the government through the Department of Labour and supply the venue and mediator to mediate the grievances.  All grievances will be refereed back to mediation if an application is made direct to the Authority if either party feels or the Authority feels that the matter could be resolved in mediation.

Lawyers or other legal representatives are allowed, but the mediation service would prefer these representatives of both parties to be more of an advisory roll to assist in coming to a resolution by the meeting of the minds.

Russ Consultants will assist employees through mediation on a “NO WIN, NO FEE” basis.  A commission of a pre-arranged amount will be talked about in the initial consultation. 

90% of Grievances generally have a solution at the end of mediation.

Employment Relations Authority (ERA) (Authority): Any Personal Grievance not sorted in mediation can be then referred to the Authority.  The Authority will investigate the case gathering information from both parties and have powers like any other court within New Zealand.

After the investigation the Authority will make a ruling that is binding.

Russ Consultants will assist employees through the authority on a “NO WIN, NO FEE” basis.  A commission of a pre-arranged amount will be talked about in the initial consultation. However employees must be aware they must pay the application fee which currently is $70 as well as be liable for the other parties costs in a situation were the Authority awards costs against you in your case.

Disciplinary Meetings: Disciplinary meetings are required under the “Good Faith” provisions of the ERA.  No employee should get a verbal or written warning without a fair hearing, otherwise it is not regarded as being in “Good Faith” and sets the employer up to be liable for compensation for the breach, often called procedural fairness.

An employer should in “Good Faith” allow the employee 24 hours notice of such a meeting as well as to a arrange time to allow a support person to attend.

It is highly recommended if this is the case to contact us, and to hire one of our consultants to be your support person if you have any doubts about the intentions of the potential outcome of the meeting.

Unjustified Dismissal/Procedurally Unfair/ Redundancy: Quite often all lead to the same outcome, the termination of your employment with a firm, and the employee looking for work and/or sitting on the dole.

In these situations we are more than happy to look at your individual case and give you free, unbiased advice on the best plan of attack. 

Each situation is different, so it is very difficult to set out clear process to follow other than give us a call and make an appointment to see one of our consultants, it will be well worth your time, and best of all most of the time it will be free.