How can I make a review application to the Labour Court to overturn a decision made by the CCMA?

The long answer

The Labour Relations Act of 1995 sets out the grounds on which you can bring a review application. These include misconduct on the part of the CCMA Commissioner; for example if they are not applying the law properly, acting beyond their powers as a Commissioner, or accepting a gift. 

The review application needs to be made within six weeks of the award being made by the Commissioner. Before you launch any review application, you must apply for a case number from the registrar at the Labour Court. There is a form that you will have to fill in at the court to get the case number. 

Then you begin with a notice of motion. This notice of motion is to:

(a) call upon the person or body to show cause why the decision or proceedings should not be reviewed and corrected or set aside;

(b) call upon the person or body to dispatch, within 10 days after receipt of the notice of motion, to the registrar, the record of the proceedings sought to be corrected or set aside;

(c) set out in an affidavit your factual and legal grounds for the review application.

The registrar will give you the record or the relevant parts of it to have copied and certified. This must include the reasons given for the decision by the CCMA. You will have to see that both the registrar and you (the applicant), as well as the respondents (your employer/s and the CCMA), have a copy of the record or the relevant parts of it which you must have certified as true and correct. These copies will be at your expense but if you are successful in having the award overturned, the court will ensure that the costs are refunded to you.

Your notice of motion must be delivered to all the parties, including the CCMA where the original decision was made and any other affected parties like your employers before it is filed at the Labour Court. The respondents then have ten days to oppose your review application if they choose to.

A review application is made by filling out Form 4 at the Labour Court. 

It seems like a complex business with many steps, but perhaps the registrar at the Labour Court will assist you with the forms, and answer any questions you may have.

You could also ask a paralegal organisation like the Black Sash to help and advise you:

• Black Sash National Toll-free Helpline for free paralegal assistance: 072 66 33 739

Wishing you the best,
Athalie