A former Wanaka Mitre 10 employee has failed in her bid to lodge a personal grievance against her ex-employer several years after she was fired.
Emma Sweney was working as a shop assistant for Wanaka Hardware and Building Supplies Ltd, trading as Mitre 10, in February 2011 when she claims she was unjustifiably dismissed after a disciplinary investigation into alleged stock-handling irregularities.
Mitre 10 denied the dismissal was unjustified and said the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) could not consider the application because no valid personal grievance was raised within the 90-day time limit imposed by the Employment Relations Act 2000.
After receiving a final written warning about her work performance in general in June 2010, Ms Sweney engaged a lawyer, referred to in the ERA determination as Ms X because of allegations of professional misconduct made against her in the submitted evidence.
After Ms Sweney's dismissal for alleged serious misconduct, she was told by Ms X she had 90 days to lodge a personal grievance claim.
Ms X advised Mitre 10 Ms Sweney intended to pursue a personal grievance and was waiting for a response from the now-disestablished Legal Services Agency (LSA) before advancing the claim.
The LSA then told Ms Sweney it needed more information regarding the application. She provided the information to Ms X, who later said she had passed it on.
Over the next few months the only contact Ms Sweney had from Ms X were statements chasing payment of her legal bill. The 90-day time limit within which to raise the personal grievance expired in May 2011.
The ERA determined the original letter to Mitre 10 from Ms X in March 2011 was not a valid personal grievance.
It gave ''no clue at all'' on what basis Ms Sweney wished to challenge her dismissal and an expression of intention to do something ''does not amount to the doing of it''.
Although Ms X had ''unreasonably failed'' to ensure a valid personal grievance was raised within the time limit, qualifying as ''exceptional circumstances'' under the Employment Relations Act, Ms Sweney had failed to take steps to rectify that failure, which she had discovered by September 2012 at the latest.
The authority declined leave for Ms Sweney to raise her personal grievance claim after the statutory time limit had expired.
Costs were reserved.
