KEY POINTS:
Unionists are disputing claims by the Employment and Manufacturers Association that the number of workplace personal grievance cases has increased markedly.
The EMA (Northern) survey of 612 employers showed that in the past year 38.5 per cent had experienced at least one workplace problem they would call a personal grievance. That compared with 30.5 per cent in 2006.
Thirty per cent of respondents said they had agreed to pay money to an employee, either to leave, to ensure no personal grievance claim was made, or to settle a claim. This compared with 24 per cent the previous year.
The manager of employment services, David Lowe, said the law covering personal grievances was complicated.
Most New Zealand businesses were small and didn't deal with these issues often, and found it difficult to get the process right.
"It's becoming known that it's hard for employers to get it right and that employees have quite a good chance of winning."
He said what might be considered common sense was held by the courts to be wrong.
An example was the case of a Cambridge High School groundsman, who spray-painted a student's car with road marking paint because he parked in front of a school gate.
The groundsman was fired, but his claim for unjustified dismissal was upheld because the school had not warned him that he faced dismissal at the disciplinary meeting.
"Just from a common-sense point of view, you spray-paint a student's car, what do you think is going to happen to you?" said Mr Lowe.
But the Council of Trade Unions says the EMA survey "self-serving".
President Helen Kelly said independent research by the Department of Labour last year showed that the incidence of employment problems was low - businesses experienced only 1.5 employment relationship problems for every 100 employees.
There was also evidence the number of problems could be decreasing.
Employment law specialist Ian Mackinnon said he was surprised by the EMA figure, and also pointed to the Labour Department research.
"It's pretty much a steady-as-you-go period for personal grievance claims."
The core principles of New Zealand's personal grievance law had been in place for 17 years, and he believed many employers had come to terms with it and understood their obligations.
He often saw cases in which employers had chosen to run the gauntlet of the law and cut corners to hasten getting rid of an unwanted employee.
"They take the calculated risk that either the employee won't pursue a claim or it's a claim that they will be able to resolve through mediation or through the use of lawyers."
Barrister Jennifer Mills, of Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, said not all personal grievance cases reached the Employment Relations Authority.
"We are seeing a number of cases where employers settle weak personal grievance claims for commercial and financial reasons."
