15 September 2015

As the Business Day seen fit to refer to the enormous rise in referrals to the CCMA it is incumbent upon us to comment on same.

The labour situation in South Africa has become more and more dire. The amount of referrals to the CCMA has almost doubled and the small business community has been incredibly hard hit. Over and above the enormous amount of retrenchments the biggest percentage of referrals is single dismissals against smaller firms. Almost every single dismissal no matter how properly it has been done is being referred to the CCMA. These referrals cause expenses and time wastage and this can hardly be afforded by a small business.

Our clients have reported back to us that they are spending many hours at the CCMA and the various bargaining councils on even the most obvious dismissals which would have not been referred to the CCMA in the past.

There is no “gate keeping” at the CCMA and sometimes the clearest of dismissal cases are those that become the most the time consuming. It is about time that the CCMA introduces a system where parties can be telephoned beforehand for a basic outline of the reason for the dismissal and the process that was used so that the inspectorate can advise individuals who have referred the cases on the strength of their case. This recommendation of strength or lack thereof might discourage certain individuals from continuing with their cases. Although this discouragement would not necessarily force an individual from continuing with an arbitration it might cut down the percentage of cases that actually land up at time consuming arbitrations.

Michael Bagraim