Dear Reader,

Every so often one of those cases pops up in the paper that makes you say “Wow, I’m glad that wasn’t me!”

You know the ones I mean. The headline probably reads something like this:

“Employer ordered to pay $60,000 in back payments to unfairly dismissed employee”

or

“Employee wins $400,000 sexual harassment payout”

etc, etc…

But what if it was you?

Sometimes, a slip up at work can lead to tens of thousands of dollars in compensation. And slip ups are easy to make.

My suggestion is this: next time you see one of those cases in the paper, take a closer look. It pays to learn from the mistakes of others.

Take this recent case which arrived in my inbox the other morning.

An employee who felt he was unfairly dismissed because he injured himself at work took his employer to court. The court ruled that the employee was unfairly dismissed and ordered the director of the company to pay him $33,000 in compensation.

In a nutshell, the director couldn’t prove that his reasons for dismissing the employee didn’t include his injury and he got slapped with the fine.

What could you have done differently in this case?

Firstly, when an employee is injured or disabled in some way, you need to ask yourself whether their condition is preventing them from performing the essential duties of their role.

If it is, then you need to determine if there are any reasonable measures you can take to help them perform their duties more effectively.

If there are no reasonable measures you can take and you can prove this, then you are well on your way to defending an unfair dismissal claim – should it ever come to that…

If you want more tips on how to lawfully manage your sick and injured workers, check out Chapter I1 Managing Sick and Injured Workers in the Employment Law Practical Handbook. It includes a 4 step process outlining exactly what you should do if an employee has a performance issue arising from illness or injury.

If you’re not currently a subscriber to the Employment Law Practical Handbook, click here for more info!

Catch you next time…

Claire

Tags: employer, Employment Law Practical Handbook, Managing Sick and Injured Workers, payout, sexual harassment, slip up, unfair dismissal claim, unfairly dismissed employee