Tag: substantively fair

Whether an employee may be dismissed if he/she misrepresented his/her qualifications and/or professional memberships, but nevertheless met the minimum requirements of the position to which he/she was appointed.

An interview with Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive, Labour Law Management Consulting, and Dr Ivor Blumenthal, CEO, ArkKonsult, discussing whether either party can take a CCMA arbitrator’s conduct on review to the Labour Court if they are able to prove that the arbitrator, in making their award, has materially broken a rule.

Either party can take a CCMA arbitrator’s conduct on review to the Labour Court if they are able to prove that the arbitrator, in making his/her award, has materially broken a rule. This is different to an appeal because an appeal is lodged, not against the arbitrator’s conduct, but rather against his/her decision.

Very often, an employee is suspended while an investigation is conducted into allegations of misconduct, or pending the holding and outcome of a disciplinary hearing. South African labour laws do not require such a suspension to be anything more than 'fair', and there is no minimum or maximum time period within which the investigation must be concluded, or in which the enquiry process finalised. However, since the suspension of an employee can be challenged as an unfair labour practice, the courts and CCMA often have to deal with challenges to an employee having been suspended.