Section 79A — Human Rights Act 1993: Choice of procedures

79A Choice of procedures (1) If the circumstances giving rise to a complaint under Part 2 are such that an employee would also be entitled to pursue a personal grievance under the Employment Relations Act 2000 , the employee may take 1, but not both, of the following steps: (a) the employee may make in relation to those circumstances a complaint under this Act: (b) the employee may, if the grievance is not otherwise resolved, apply to the Employment Relations Authority for the resolution of the grievance under the Employment Relations Act 2000 . (2) To avoid doubt, a complaint referred to in subsection (1) includes, but is not limited to, a complaint about sexual harassment or racial harassment. (3) For the purposes of subsection (1)(a) , an employee makes a complaint when proceedings about that complaint are commenced by the complainant or the Commission. (4) If an employee makes a complaint under subsection (1)(a) , the employee may not exercise or continue to exercise any rights relating to the subject matter of the complaint that the employee may have under the Employment Relations Act 2000 . (5) If an employee applies to the Employment Relations Authority for a resolution of the grievance under subsection (1)(b) , the employee may not exercise or continue to exercise any rights relating to the subject matter of the grievance that the employee may have under this Act. Section 79A was inserted, as from 1 December 2004, by section 4 Human Rights Amendment Act 2004 (2004 No 88).