Government reviewing personal grievance claims

John Key says that with only a limited amount of money being available, trade-offs have to be made. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Government is reviewing personal grievance claims procedures to make them less onerous on employers.

John Key told the Council of Trade Unions the personal grievance process needed to be more coherent and easier.

"Substance-over-form issues are the area of concern - where someone has genuinely done something that warrants dismissal but because [the employers] haven't followed the rules absolutely perfectly, they lose. It can be very expensive for small companies."

But to give the unions some good news, the PM indicated that other employment policies which they have criticised are now on the backburner.

These are likely to include policies such as restricting union access to workplaces and allowing non-union members to enter collective bargaining.

Mr Key would not rule out making the changes, but said they were "not a driving priority".