The Difference Between Disputes and Grievances
The Employment Relations Act distinguishes between disputes and grievances.
Section 5 of the Act defines a dispute as ‘about the interpretation, application or operation of an employment agreement.’
Section 103 of the Act defines a personal grievance as a grievance that an employee has with their employer on the grounds of:
- unjustified dismissal
- the employer’s unjustifiable action that disadvantages the employee’s employment – losing job status due to internal restructuring might be grounds for a grievance
- discrimination
- sexual harassment
- racial harassment
- duress (in relation to union membership).
A dispute concerns the interpretation or application of the provisions of the employment agreement between the parties. The word dispute has a specific statutory meaning, but we are using it to refer to the range of different problems that might arise between the parties to an employment relationship.
A personal grievance relates to something that has arisen within the employment relationship but does not spring from the agreement itself. Grievances tend to be separate from the agreement and refer to an employer’s action or omission that affects an employee.
Both disputes and grievances can be defined as ‘employment relationship problems’ under the Act. They must be dealt with in accordance with the dispute resolution mechanisms set out by the Act. The difference between the two is important, because the Act sets up an additional procedure for handling personal grievances that the parties to a dispute are not obliged to follow. It is the Act’s expressed intention to ‘continue to give special attention to personal grievances, and to facilitate the raising of personal grievances with employers’ (section 101(b)).