Chapter 5
The Labour Court
The Labour Court is a special court for hearing labour cases that fall under the Labour Relations Act. So this court is used only for matters between employers and employees or employees’ unions. The Labour Court interprets all the labour laws. It says which things are unfair labour practices and deals with automatically unfair dismissals – for example dismissing a worker for exercising a legal right under
the Labour Relations Act. It can order an employer or worker or union to stop committing an unfair labour practice. It can give jobs back to employees who have lost their jobs unfairly, and so on.
Many cases must go to the CCMA (Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration) before the Labour Court. The CCMA deals with a range of labour issues. The CCMA has a procedure that can speed the process up called a ‘Conarb’. This is where it does the conciliation (trying to find a mediated and agreed settlement) and then an arbitration (where the CCMA makes a ruling directly afterwards).
The Labour Court hears reviews of CCMA decisions, dismissals based on discrimination and dismissals for large retrenchments. The Labour Appeal Court hears appeals against decisions in the Labour Court and this is the highest court for labour appeals. (See Adjudication by the Labour Court)