Employees argue suspension unjustified after 20 months on payroll
The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) recently dealt with an interim reinstatement application involving four government agency employees who were moved from paid to unpaid suspension after being charged with criminal offences related to a workplace incident from 2023.
The workers argued that their employer's decision to cease their pay was unjustified, particularly since three of them had already been cleared by an internal investigation and were in the process of returning to work when they were arrested.
They sought interim reinstatement to the payroll while their criminal trial proceeded and their substantive personal grievance claims were determined.
The case raised important questions about employer obligations when employees face criminal charges arising from workplace incidents, and the balance between operational needs and employee rights during lengthy proceedings.
In May 2023, the four workers were involved in an incident at their government agency workplace that led to a comprehensive internal investigation.
The employer commenced its investigation in August 2023, with three workers suspended on pay from 14 August. The second worker had already been suspended on pay from 17 July 2023 in relation to another matter.
An external workplace investigator was commissioned in September 2023 to consider the workers' involvement in the incident.
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