Welcome back to Workplace Wednesdays,
I am sure we’ve all watched an American TV programme where a senior person in a company turns to an employee and says -“you’re fired!”
This cannot happen in South Africa as the ending of an employment relationship – “firing”/dismissing/terminating – is strictly governed by law and rules and regulations which if ignored by the employer -puts that employer is serious breach of the law.
But now, let’s assume the employer ignores the law and “fires”/dismisses an employee randomly. The employee has recourse to statutorily established forums wherein he/she can take this “firing” and place the breach of the law before such a body who will rule and hand down an award which is binding on all parties.
The first and most common forum where unfair dismissals are placed is the Commission for Conciliation and Mediation and Arbitration (also known as the CCMA). This is a body established by statute and has wide ranging powers to hear the dispute and rule for a party. This ruling is usually binding and falls under the Labour Court and if ignored, is considered contempt of that court.
If the employer is a member of a Bargaining Council, then the dispute is to be taken there and not the CCMA and the dispute will be heard under the Bargaining Council’s rules and constitution. These Bargaining Council dispute resolution bodies usually follow the CCMA rules closely and the procedures to ventilate a dispute and pretty similar.
Should the employee/employer not get the outcome they seek in the above two bodies, then the door is open to approach the Labour Court to review the matter and the outcomes arrived at from the other two bodies.
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