Disciplinary hearings & the CCMA
You get a notice, or you get dismissed, and then you are on your own with a process nobody explained. This is the part people miss: the law gives you a fixed number of days, it starts counting immediately, and it counts weekends and public holidays too.
General information about South African labour law, in plain language. Not legal advice about your matter.
The part that expires
A referral that arrives late is not heard on whether you were treated fairly. It is heard on why it was late. These are the periods the Labour Relations Act sets, as the CCMA itself states them.
From the date of dismissal. If you ran an internal appeal, from the date of that outcome.
Suspension, demotion, promotion, training, benefits. From the act, or from when you became aware of it.
Under the Employment Equity Act, from the act or omission you say was discriminatory.
After the certificate of outcome is issued, or after the thirty-day conciliation period ends.
How the days are counted. Every day counts, weekends and public holidays included. You exclude the first day and include the last. Dismissed on 6 August, counting starts on 7 August, and the last day to refer is 5 September. Most people lose time assuming it is working days.
Late already? There is a way back, called condonation, but you have to ask for it and give reasons: how late you are, why, what steps you took, why your case has prospects, and what it costs the other side. It is decided on good cause shown, not on sympathy.
Before the room
Whatever is said, shown and written down becomes the thing a commissioner reads months later. Walking in prepared is not about being clever. It is about arriving with your dates, your documents and your version already in order.
What to have ready
01 · Paper
Collect it before you need it. Memory is not evidence, and employers keep files.
02 · The charge
Answer the charge in front of you, not the rumour. If it is vague, ask for it in writing.
03 · The room
A fair process has requirements. Asking for them is not being difficult.
After the outcome
You do not need the employer to agree, and you do not need a lawyer to start. What you need is the form, proof that the other side received it, and to be inside the date.
Form 7.11. Complete it, deliver a copy to the employer, and send the CCMA the form together with proof that you served it. Email is acceptable.
Nothing to refer. The CCMA does not charge the parties to conciliate or arbitrate a dispute.
A commissioner tries to settle it with both sides. If it does not settle, a certificate is issued and the matter can go on to arbitration.
Allowed in conciliation and arbitration, with exceptions under CCMA Rule 25. Dismissals for misconduct or incapacity, and claims for money under the National Minimum Wage Act, are among the matters where it is limited.
Matters inside a bargaining council's jurisdiction go there instead, and some disputes sit with the Labour Court. Independent contractors fall outside this system.
0861 161616, or ccma.org.za. They are the ones who decide, and their own information sheets are free to read.
Built on the Tinman corpus
Tinman holds South African labour law as a curated, audited corpus, and computes the dates rather than guessing at them. Put your situation in and it will tell you which period applies and what it counts from, with the section it came from.