What motivates New Brunswick employees to sue their employers, and does the law offer a relevant response?

• Main Author: VanBuskirk, K.
• Published: Nottingham Trent University 2014
• Subjects: 340
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.629330

Disputes between employers and employees often have damaging consequences, including employee claiming that leads to lengthy, expensive and time-intensive legal processes. It is questionable if employee-initiated legal claims always effectively respond to the concerns on which they are based. This study explores the motivations of individuals in New Brunswick, Canada in their decisions to consider legal action against their employers. It argues that more attention should be paid to the reasons why individuals elect to pursue legal remedies and to the exploration of means for avoiding litigation or addressing the resolution of such differences in more effective and efficient ways. Adopting a multiple operationism methodology, this study has explored the motives of New Brunswick employees who consider advancing legal claims against their employers and has considered the procedural and remedial capacity of the existing common law and statutory employment law system to effectively respond to those motives. In addition, the study has examined the responsiveness of alternate justice models to the employee concerns that frequently result in the initiation of legal claims. The study argues that many employees' legal claims are highly motivated by interests that are more dimensioned than the interests contemplated by the New Brunswick legal system and that amendments to the system should be considered. The system has been significantly informed and influenced by Classical Contract Law Theory, and the study suggests that implementation of justice concepts and processes founded on Relational Contract Law Theory will respond more effectively to the employee concerns that motive legal claims.