Timeframe extended for raising sexual harassment personal grievance

An amendment to the Employment Relations Act was passed in June this year which extends the time available to raise a personal grievance that involves allegations of sexual harassment.
Prior to this amendment, a person experiencing sexual harassment had 90 days to bring a personal grievance, which was the standard time set for a personal grievance of any type.
Now under the Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Act 2023 (Amendment Act), a person has within 12 months to bring a grievance for sexual harassment in the workplace. This 12 month period is defined as beginning from the date the alleged sexual harassment occurred, or came to the employee’s attention, whichever is later.
Under the Human Rights Act 1993, sexual harassment is defined as any unwelcome or offensive sexual behaviour that is either repeated, or of such a significant nature, that it has a detrimental effect on that person. This includes “by the use of language (whether written or spoken) of a sexual nature, or of visual material of a sexual nature, or by physical behaviour of a sexual nature”.
What can be considered as sexual harassment can cover a wide range of actions; both overt and implied. For those wanting to review this area, Employment New Zealand’s website provides useful information on the subject, and gives some helpful context, with examples of scenarios and behaviours that may be considered sexual harassment in the workplace.
It is not uncommon for those suffering from sexual harassment to take considerable time to process and act on what has occurred. This delay in coming forward can be due to factors such as embarrassment, lack of understanding of what happened, self-blame, fear of what others will think, shame and if the alleged perpetrator was a manager or employer, there’s the fear of risking one’s career or livelihood. This Amendment Act recognises this personal process and will allow more time for people who have experienced workplace sexual harassment to consider what has happened to them before deciding whether to raise a personal grievance.
The Amendment Act, however, is not retrospective. The 12 month period applies to events that happened, or came to the notice of the employee, on or after 13 June 2023 (date on which the amendment came into force). For events before this amendment was enacted, the previous 90 day period applies.
For employers, from 13 June 2023, new employment agreements must include the modified time. Although employers are not required to update employment agreements that existed before the Amendment Act came into force, under their good faith obligations, employers should discuss updating the agreements the next time they review them with their employees.