A personal grievance must be raised within 90 days of the date of the action or grievance arising or later with consent of the employer. Personal grievances may be raised in respect of unjustifiable dismissal, or an unjustifiable disadvantage. An unjustifiable disadvantage relates to an alleged unjustifiable action on the part of the employer which impacts on one or more conditions of the employee’s employment.
Further areas in which grievances may be raised are contained in section 103(a) to (g).
An unjustifiable dismissal may be raised in respect of an employee who has been dismissed or one who has resigned and claimed constructive dismissal. A constructive dismissal is where the resignation of the employee is found to have come at the initiative of the employer. Some examples are where the employer may ask the employee to “resign or be fired” or where the employer has breached the employment agreement seriously and that it is foreseeable in view of those breaches that the employee will resign.