Dairy NZ

Despite your best efforts sometimes things will go wrong in the employment relationship. When this happens there are two avenues open to you as an employer, depending on the nature of the issue:

• Performance management of the staff member to improve poor performance
• Disciplinary procedures to correct the behaviour that is causing the issue.

As a result of these processes the issue with the employee will either be corrected or could lead to dismissal.

This can be a tricky area as there is a high requirement for procedural fairness to be observed, especially where the situation may lead to dismissal. It is highly recommended you get advice from a professional. This person may be an employment specialist or a lawyer, depending on how far the issue has progressed.

Members of Federated Farmers of New Zealand (www.fedfarm.org.nz) enjoy access to a small amount of free legal advice on employment issues as a part of their subscription. This is a useful service to check the legal ground you stand on in the first instance, before possibly employing local advice.

• For more information: Fact Sheet: Performance management  View PDF (91kb) 
                                         Fact Sheet: Disciplinary procedures  View PDF (75kb)
                                         Fact Sheet: Ending employment  View PDF (82kb)