These are some examples of how we helped employees who have been performance managed.
We assisted a senior engineer who was unlawfully placed on performance management.
We acted for a senior engineer in the oil and gas industry who was employed on a working visa. As part of his employment terms, the employer was required to assist our client to obtain permanent residency in Australia.
The employer initially did not comply with its obligations to assist our client in obtaining permanent residency, so our client made enquiries in relation to this issue. The employer then placed our client on a performance management plan.
Our client exercised a workplace right by enquiring in relation to the permanent residency issue. It was unlawful for the employer to place our client on a performance management plan because he enquired about the permanent residency issue.
We assisted our client in dealing with the performance management in the following ways:
- By providing advice on a strategy to deal with the performance allegations, including addressing the alleged issues raised.
- Prepared documents responding to the alleged deficiencies which the client sent to the employer. The employer did not initially know that we were acting for and advising our client as we were assisting the client in the background.
- When the above did not achieve the desired outcome, we commenced legal proceedings while our client was still employed to seek a remedy for our client because he was placed on performance improvement plan in breach of the general protections provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009.
The matter was resolved to the client’s satisfaction, and this included:
- Forcing the employer to comply with their obligations to assist our client to obtain permanent residency status;
- The employer paying the visa costs for our client and his family.
- Having sick days re-credited to our client which our client was forced to take due to the stress that performance management caused him;
- We extended our client’s fixed-term employment contract so our client remained employed after the matter was finalised.
We assisted a mid-level manager.
MKI Legal advised an employee in a mid-level management role working in the coal industry who was placed on a performance improvement plan.
Before being placed on the performance improvement plan, our client had significant personal issues which resulted in extensive absence from work.
The company responded to his absence by placing our client on a performance improvement plan. The manner in which our client was placed on a performance improvement plan was unlawful because it was a direct response to our client being temporarily absent from work (which is a breach of the general protections provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009).
We assisted our client by:
- Advising our client on how to deal with the performance management plan.
- Preparing a strategy for our client to implement when dealing with the employer,
- Preparing documents on our client’s behalf in response to the performance improvement plan. We wrote these documents in a manner where the employer was not aware that we were acting and advising our client (we ghost wrote the documents for our client).
After addressing the performance management issues, we became involved further by negotiating a mutual separation with the employer on our client’s behalf. Our client resigned from his employment but, in return, he received a generous compensation payout. The matter was resolved to our client’s satisfaction.
We assisted a junior accountant to successfully complete her performance management plan.
We assisted an accountant who had only recently graduated and was working in a small corporate tax practice.
Our client was placed on an informal performance management plan.
Our client was placed on a performance management plan because there were some communication issues from the employer, and the employer had failed to provide our client with proper training.
We assisted our client in responding to the performance management plan (which was done without the employer knowing that we were advising the client) by advising the client to:
- Request proper supervision and training;
- Request our client’s supervising partner to attend client meetings to specifically assist our client in improving on issues that the employer alleged to be deficient;
- Request the supervising partner and other senior employees to provide on-the-job coaching in respect to alleged communication issues.
Within a couple of months, our client had successfully completed the performance management plan and was no longer subject to it. The matter was resolved to our client’s satisfaction.
Visit How We Can Assist You to find out how we can help you deal with performance management.
