Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) on Wednesday declared a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling a victory for ensuring equal and affordable access to justice.
"This is a historic judgment," CCMA director Nerine Kahn said in a statement.
The court upheld the constitutionality of the CCMA rule that in arbitration proceedings the right to legal representation was at the commissioner's discretion. This was unless an agreement between the commissioner and the parties was reached.
The court judgment overturned a previous ruling by the High Court in Pretoria which found in favour of the Law Society of the Northern Provinces. The society had argued that the rule discriminated against legal practitioners.
Kahn said the CCMA believed that keeping the involvement of legal officials in CCMA processes to a minimum ensured costs were kept low enough to be affordable.
"Dismissal disputes comprise more than 80% of all matters, and this clause underpins the objective of providing an accessible, equitable, speedy, and cheap access to redress unfair dismissals."
