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Practice Areas

Employee Representation

Employee Representation

I handle unjustified dismissals; disciplinary investigations; contract disputes; harrassment, discrimination and bullying issues; personal greviences; and more.

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Being caught up in or being the subject of an emplyoment dispute or investigation can be overwhelming and have far-reaching effects on you and your family.  The best approach is to seek objective and sound advice as soon as possible.  Friends and family are not best placed to help.  I will listen to you, identify the relevant issues and formulate and response.  You may not know your rights but I do.

  • Provide a free initial assessment of your case;

  • Keep you updated about your case at every stage;

  • Explain any risks;

  • Provide a letter for WINZ, if needed;

  • Represent you in either worksite meetings or mediation, if required.

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i will

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I Won't

  • Tell you that you have a case, if you don't;

  • Promise you a guaranteed settlement amount to secure you as a client;

  • Take a large retainer for mediation or to attend a meeting;

  • Pursue a vexatious case;

  • Pressure you into accepting a settlement that you are not comfortable with.

Sewing Machine
Car Mechanic
Cleaning the Floor
Construction Workers
Packaging Factory
Employer Representation

Employer Representation

I handle employment negotiations; disiplinary, harrassment, distrimination and bullying investigations; advice on performance issues and contracts; and more.

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While your focus remains on the whole of business, specific employment matters can get overlooked.  Humans are not resources; they are people and people are always complicated.  Before you make changes which will affect your employees, seek advice, as employment law can be difficult to work within.  It is always less costly to be well-advised than to become embroiled in a time-consuming and stressful employment-law process.  You may not know your obligations to your employees but I do.

I Will

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  • Explain your obligations as an employer;

  • Guide and assist you through any employment relations process;

  • Provide timely and effective written documentation;

  • Guarantee that, if you follow my advice but an employee succcessfully files a claim against you at the Employment Relations Authority, I will refund any fees paid for my services in full.

I Won't

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  • Give you any advice that does not meet the requirements of employment law;

  • Charge unncesssary fees for something that you could do on your own;

  • Make promises that I could not deliver.

Office Desk
Business Meeting
Giving a Presentation
Business Presentation
Clipboard
Restorative Justice Practice

Restorative Justice Practice

I handle all of the processes involved in a restorative justice conference.

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Since the changes to the Health and Safety laws in 2015, there are obligations on employers when an employee is injured at work.  Worksafe may order a restorative justice conference.  I am a member of Restorative Practices Aoteoroa and have been a Restorative Justice Facilitator since 2002.  You may not know the processes for Restorative Justice but I do.

Restorative Practice is a philosophy-in-action, placing respectful relationships at the heart of every interaction.  This relational approach is grounded in beliefs about the equality, dignity and potential of all people and about the just structures and systems that enable people to thrive and succeed together. 
 
To practice restoratively involves building and maintaining inclusive networks of positive relationships among workplace staff, including managers and stakeholders.  Its relational approach helps transform the ways staff engage in the workplace and the ways management exercise authority.  A relational approach recognises that interpersonal connections and just structures create community: that people and organisations flourish when relationships are strong and supportive. A relational approach values inclusion, respect, co-operation, equality and democracy. 
 
A restorative approach to problem solving recognises that misconduct harms people and relationships and that those involved in the problem are needed in the problem solving.  This philosophy-in-action means workplaces use restorative problem solving tools to restore relationships where harm has occurred.  Those who harm others are held accountable within a community of care and have obligations to repair the harm done.  Even when serious harm has been done, the workplace community can be strengthened and future problems can be prevented.  
 
The Restorative Practice Tools help workplaces use formal and evidence based ways to respond to incidents of serious harm, to problem-solve effectively and to build community. 
 
While the tools are effective in their own right, their primary aim is to help the workplace community think, act and live relationally.  In this way, restorative work transforms the whole culture of a workplace; influencing what we choose to value and why.  Restorative practice is a strengths-based and hope-filled approach to work life and community life.  A relational approach is therefore not just about 'implementing' the restorative practices in the model. The practices are a means to an end.  
 
For many, a 'restorative' approach to serious harm implies restoring relationships to how they were before an incident.  While this might often be true, a restorative approach has a 'forward' focus: an intervention must restore the dignity, humanity and mana of the people involved.  It must restore the just relationships that enable people to thrive and succeed in their community, even when there is no ongoing relationship between those involved in an incident.  It must restore the systems and supports needed to live out the vision of a respectful and inclusive workplace.

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