Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Bill

On 7 June 2023 Parliament passed the Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Bill into law. While the Bill itself is relatively short, it has significant implications for raising personal grievances.

Currently when an employee wishes to raise a personal grievance, they must do so within 90 calendar days from the date on which the action alleged to amount to a personal grievance occurred or came to the notice of the employee. All types of personal grievances, including where an employee has been sexually harassed during their employment, are subject to this 90-day time frame.

However, this Bill amends the timeframe to raise a personal grievance to 12 months for those employees who have been victims of sexual harassment. Section 114 of the Employment Relations Act 2000 will be amended to change the phrase “90-day period” to “employee notification period”. For grievances relating to sexual harassment, the employee notification period will be 12 months from the date on which the action alleged to amount to a personal grievance occurred or came to the notice of the employee. All other grievances will remain under the 90-day timeframe restriction.

The extended time frame of 12 months is intended to allow victims of sexual harassment in the workplace to come to terms with what has happened to them before coming forward with a complaint. Parliament’s express hope is that this will improve the personal grievance process for those victims.

The amendment to the Act will come into force on the day after it gains Royal Assent, and from that date employers will need to ensure that any new employment agreements entered into include a reference to the 12-month period within which a personal grievance must be raised in respect of sexual harassment, in addition to the 90-day period for all other personal grievances.

Any employment agreements concluded or entered into before the commencement of the Act do not need to be changed immediately, but it is advisable that employers consider updating their employment agreements to keep them aligned with the legislation.