Hiring new staff is risky. You never know exactly how they will turn out. Will they perform to your expectations? Will they cause you endless trouble and frustration because they can’t do the job as you hoped, or don’t listen to your instructions, or just don’t get it? You can
If you are an employee, you may find talk about changes being made to your role get your back up. You signed up to perform certain duties (hopefully set out in a job description). That’s what you committed to, and you’re aware that employment agreements can’t be changed unless both
“Oh no, I have a restraint of trade in my employment agreement!” That was the thought that went through the mind of a client of mine. He had already resigned and was looking forward to his new job. However, he had forgotten that, in the long distant past, he had
Suspending an employee from work is a serious matter. So much so that the Court of Appeal has described suspension as a “drastic measure“. Why is it serious, you ask? Well, for one, you risk breaching the employee’s employment agreement if, without good reason, you stop them from carrying out
Employees sometimes want to know whether something they have done is worthy of dismissal. Unfortunately, there are no stock answers. Employment law requires an assessment of fairness taking into account all of the circumstances. While it may be fair to dismiss an employee in one case for some particular conduct,
You may be surprised to know that in some cases your employer can direct you to take some of your annual leave. That may seem outrageous to you. Isn’t your leave hard-earned and yours to take whenever you wish? Before you get too upset, you should know there are a
If you raise a personal grievance against your employer, you can ask the Employment Relations Authority to decide whether you have a claim and whether your employer should pay you anything for it. If a Member of the Authority considers that you have a valid personal grievance, they can order
It appears that written references are becoming less relevant these days. Increasingly, employers will refuse to give references in writing, because it is difficult to ensure consistency and fairness to all employees. Many large employers make it a matter of policy not to give written references at all. In addition,
If you are an employer, there is a good chance you have had the thought that it is hard to dismiss employees in this country. You sense that the law is skewed against you and in favour of employees. To some extent that is true: there is a natural imbalance
I often hear employers and employees say restraint of trade clauses are not enforceable and that we don’t need to bother with them. That’s not exactly true. In fact, not so long ago the Employment Court encouraged us all to take post-employment restraints more seriously when it declared: ‘Gone are
