Introduction

There are numerous failings which are occupying, unnecessarily and unduly, resources in the Employment Relations Authority and in the Employment Court and, in some instances, no doubt depriving deserving grievants of their metaphorical day in court. Personal grievances are not being raised with employers in either a sufficient and/or timely way. The Court also sees numerous challenges that are filed late, or at the last minute and/or that suffer from other procedural deficiencies. The fault lies, unfortunately, not with parties themselves but with their representatives, advocates, legal practitioners and, in a disturbing number of cases, senior and experienced legal practitioners.

Irrespective of what may be causing these fundamental procedural failures, they need not happen if parties’ representatives are astute to the requirements under the Employment Relations Act 2000 (ERA), the Employment Court Regulations 2000 (ECRegs), and in case law. To do so will not only ensure that your grievant clients will have their cases heard on their merits, but will avoid what must be, we suggest, the inevitable professional negligence claim against a practitioner that will have a chilling effect.

Beyond the minima, the occasion on which a personal grievance is first raised and the lodging of a challenge present a real opportunity for the grievant or appellant to advocate for their position. This opportunity should be made the most of, not lost.

In this paper we explain the ‘when’ and ‘how’ of raising personal grievances and lodging challenges so as to meet the statutory minima and advance your client’s interests.