😱 When Advocacy Turns Predatory: A Call for Accountability

😕 This week, I supported a client who has been seriously let down. Not by their employer, but by the very person meant to advocate for them

📚 This client, struggling with mental health challenges, was manipulated into signing an objectively unfair “no win, no fee” agreement. And there was a further fish-hook: reading the 'fine print' revealed the fee was actually a 33% cut of their settlement. Far above what I consider standard or ethical. Worse still, the so-called "advocate" did not act in the client’s best interest, failed to negotiate a decent outcome, and misrepresented herself as a solicitor. (Pity she is not, or I would have been onto the NZLS same day)

👺 When the client, confused and overwhelmed, didn't immediately pay up, this advocate took things a step further: she sued the client and her 'company director' is now making threats involving bailiffs, arriving at my client's home, banging on his door, causing further mental harm

📌 This is not advocacy

📌 This is exploitation

📌 And it’s happening far more often than people realise

🔖 The New Zealand employment advocacy space must be held to higher standards. Vulnerable people, especially those facing mental health struggles or complex workplace traumas, deserve honest, professional, and compassionate representation. Not coercion wrapped in legal jargon. Not threats. Not lies.

💡 To any employment practitioner reading this:

Your title doesn’t make you ethical - it's your actions that do

💡 To clients who’ve been mistreated:

You are not alone, and you deserve better

💡 And to anyone witnessing these practices quietly, saying nothing:

Now is the time to speak up. Silence protects predators, not people

👩‍⚖️ I am calling out unethical behavior in our industry if we want to rebuild trust where it's been broken. Advocacy should empower, not intimidate