KEY POINTS:
If you want decent compensation for unjustified dismissal, first make sure that you live in Wellington.
That's the implication of an Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) analysis, released yesterday, of awards by the Employment Relations Authority over the past five years.
Wellington members of the authority consistently awarded
the highest compensation for the hurt and humiliation involved in unjustified dismissals in all five years, averaging $8536 in each case last year. Sacked employees in Christchurch got an average of $6630, and those in Auckland only $5526.
Wellington authority member Denis Asher, a former Public Service Association official, made the highest average awards of any of the 17 authority members in 2004, 2005 and 2006, and was eclipsed in 2007 by Auckland's Maria Urlich only because of an exceptional case heard by Ms Urlich.
An Auckland lawyer campaigning for reform of the authority, Eska Hartdegen, said the wide variation between regions showed that authority members were "a law unto themselves".
"It's the luck of the draw who you get, and that's not how justice works," she said.
But authority chief James Wilson said the statistics were based on very small numbers, with each member awarding about 10 to 15 cases for hurt and humiliation each year. Despite this, the differences between members and between regions were small.
"The figures show a consistency within what I consider a reasonable and acceptable range of awards."
The statistics came on the same day that Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson introduced an Employment Relations Amendment Bill allowing small employers to hire workers on 90-day probation on terms that would exclude any right to compensation for unjustified dismissal during the probation period.
The National Party also promised before the election to bring in further changes later to "require the Employment Relations Authority to act judicially in accordance with the principles of natural justice".
The EMA has said in its previous annual surveys that compensation claims were "a gravy train still picking up speed", with the number of personal grievance claims taken to the authority rising from 340 in 2004 to 436 in 2005 and 515 in 2006.
But its latest analysis shows that the number of claims dropped to 416 last year.
A trend for more cases to go in favour of employees - up from 52 per cent in 2004 to 58 in 2005 and 64 per cent in 2006 - also halted, reversing slightly to 63 per cent last year.
EMA services manager David Lowe said employees won only 32 per cent of claims alleging constructive dismissal, but 61 per cent of claims that they were "disadvantaged" by the way their bosses treated them, 71 per cent of claims for unfair dismissal for misconduct or poor performance, and 73 per cent of claims for unfair dismissal for redundancy.
