Preliminary Victory in Callen v Alaron Products Limited - Personal Grievance

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The Employment Relations Authority delivered a positive preliminary determination in the case of Peter Callen v Alaron Products Limited [2024] NZERA 610. This decision cleared the path for a substantive investigation into bullying and dismissal claims raised.

What Was at Stake?

The preliminary hearing focused on whether Peter had raised his personal grievances within the required statutory timeframes. Alaron argued that Peter had failed to meet strict procedural requirements and attempted to prevent the case from proceeding on technical grounds.

The Authority's Decision

Member Helen Doyle found decisively in Peter's favour on two critical issues:

Personal Grievances of Unjustified Disadvantage — The Authority confirmed that Peter's letter of 8 May 2023 successfully raised personal grievances alleging unjustified disadvantage. The letter clearly communicated concerns about bullying by his manager, an unsafe workplace, and questions about the genuineness of the restructuring process. Alaron responded substantively on 19 May 2023, demonstrating they understood and engaged with the grievance.

Implied Consent to Late Dismissal Grievance — Perhaps most significantly, the Authority found that Alaron impliedly consented to Peter raising his unjustified dismissal grievance outside the statutory 90-day window. By lodging a detailed statement in reply that addressed the merits of Peter's claims without raising jurisdictional objections, Alaron signalled acceptance of the grievance. The Authority rejected Alaron's argument that filing a statement in reply merely constituted "threshold compliance."

Why This Matters in personal grievance cases in NZ

This preliminary determination removes procedural barriers and allowed the substantive investigation to proceed on 28 November 2024 in Nelson. Peter's claims about workplace bullying, health and safety breaches, and the genuineness of the redundancy process were able to be investigated.

The decision also reinforces an important principle: employers cannot strategically stay silent on procedural defects, address grievances substantively, and then later claim they never accepted a late grievance. Fair dealing and good faith conduct matter in employment law.