Authority to Act form for personal grievance cases: what it is and why it matters

Personal grievance authority to act forms - protect yourself

If you are an employee with a Personal Grievance (PG), and you are using a representative, you should expect an Authority To Act form. It is a basic protection: it confirms who your representative is, what they can do, and what you have agreed.

We recently saw an advocate get tripped up as the Employment Relations Authority and Employment Court found that they had failed to establish a written Authority To Act (ATA) with their client.

The Court noted that there is no requirement of the Authority to provide a template form for advocates, neither does the Court have the jurisdiction to impose such a requirement on the Authority.

Frequently I observe cases where both regulated and non-regulated employment advocates have in the first phone call with a client to their 0800 number, fired off a personal grievance letter, starting the client's case without providing written Terms of Engagement, let alone having a client fill out an ATA form before commencing work.

There has been occasions where this has resulted in clients coming to us seeking representation because they were unclear on what was happening with the other advocacy firm. When this happens the advocates may argue over which represents that client. The loser of that argument may then charge the client for the work they have performed. If that is the firm that failed to provide written Terms of Engagement to agree to from the outset, then the client would have legitimate grounds to dispute those charges.

To avoid these problems, an employment advocate should provide an Authority To Act (ATA) form to prospective clients, along with a Terms of Engagement form as per my 18 July article.