The Effectiveness of Grievance Processes in New Zealand: A Fair Way to Go?

Grievances are a contentious facet of contemporary employment relations and yet the amount of in-depth research evidence is limited. This study uses a real-time approach, following a set of New Zealand grievance cases as they proceeded through mediation. The public debate has focused on allegations...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of industrial relations 2011-02, Vol.53 (1), p.103-121
Main Authors: Walker, Bernard, Hamilton, R.T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Effectiveness studies
Employees
Employment
Grievance procedures
Industrial relations
Labor
Labor law
Labour law
Law
Mediation
New Zealand
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Summary:Grievances are a contentious facet of contemporary employment relations and yet the amount of in-depth research evidence is limited. This study uses a real-time approach, following a set of New Zealand grievance cases as they proceeded through mediation. The public debate has focused on allegations of opportunist employees exploiting the system. Our findings, however, identify a group of employees who were seeking to remain with their employer, but who lacked influence and lost their jobs. In these situations the law was unable to provide employment protection, while employers had the dominant influence on these outcomes. These findings contribute to the international debate regarding the justice offered through newer grievance resolution systems.
ISSN:0022-1856
1472-9296
DOI:10.1177/0022185610390298