Misconduct+in+employment

Misconduct in employment    By: Sinthuja Vaseeharan  Topic of interest: What is misconduct in employment ? 

Misconduct is behaviour that an employer recognises inappropriate for an employee usually during the working hours. Simply it means some form of wrongdoing. Usually it will involve deliberate wrongdoing. But there may be circumstances where an employee behaves so carelessly that it amounts to misconduct (i.e. gross negligence or recklessness).here are many types of misconduct, could be categorised from minor misconduct or serious or gross misconduct. Serious misconduct means serious wrongdoing. Where, after a fair process, it is established that an employee’s actions amount to serious misconduct, an employer may terminate the employee’s contract without any notice. Therefore, the misconduct must be sufficiently serious that it undermines the trust and confidence that the employer has in the employee (e.g. theft, sexual or other assault, the use of illegal drugs at work)  It is important that employers must have a set of disciplinary rules and procedures which set out standards of conduct at work. Otherwise an employee may not know what is expected of him, also it may hamper an employer from taking steps to discipline (or punish) the employee. Most employers will either have a disciplinary procedure policy or provision in their contracts of employment explaining what will not be acceptable behaviour. In some industries there may be an emphasis on certain characteristics, for example what may be viewed as unacceptable behaviour for a police officer may not be misconduct for those in other careers.    <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 18pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 18pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 18pt;">Where does the law in this area come from?

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When there is misconduct, employers must consider the legislative and common law legal framework that governs the employment relationship very carefully. It must be regard to relevant legislation such as the New Zealand Employment Relations Act 2000 and to principles such as constructive and wrongful dismissal. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 18pt;">What is required under the law? <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It has to be <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> recognised that in resolving employment relationship problems, access to both information and mediation services is more important than adherence to rigid formal procedures. Also it has to be recognised that employment relationship problems are more likely to be resolved quickly and successfully if the problems are first raised and discussed directly between the parties to the relationship. Moreover It should be continued to give special attention to personal grievances, and to facilitate the raising of personal grievances with employers and it has to be recognised that the importance of reinstatement as a remedy finally it should be ensured that the role of the Authority and the court in resolving employment relationship problems is to determine the rights and obligations of the parties rather than to fix terms and conditions of employment. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 18pt;">Where can people in business find out more information about the area of law and what they are required to do? <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> **<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">01. The Common Law **<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> this is case law developed by the court system. Many decisions are related to human resources laws. Subscribe for a labour law journal to keep up-to-date. **<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">02. Recruitment and Selection **<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Find out in which areas potential legal issues may arise. **<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">03. Potential Discriminative Acts and Decisions **<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> one of the issues usually brought up is discrimination. Discrimination is subject to: <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">• Human Right and Equal Opportunities Commission Act • Racial Discrimination Act • Sex Discrimination Act • Disability Discrimination Act Human Resources laws do provide for protection for employees. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The employer’s right to ‘hire and fire’ is limited. Therefore the courts can examine such action for unfairness. Due to that employers can not dismiss any employee without proper reason. In addition employers must not fail to give warning to your employees for under-performance, non-performance or undesirable conduct. Employers must clearly advice them that this may result in dismissal if they do not follow it properly.
 * 04. Rights of the Employee**
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Common law action for wrongful dismissal. One instance of this is termination with insufficient notice.
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Statutory action for unfair dismissal. A case in point is not giving any reason for termination.

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reference: <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">*.[] <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> *.Rudman Richard, 2010 New Zealand Employment Law guide :CCH New Zealand Limited *.[] <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">