I get horrific tales all the time of people who had to pay out at the CCMA, despite all sorts of terrible things that their employee has done. A perception has developed, and to an extent it is true, that the CCMA really sides with employees. Part of the problem however is that people don’t hold disciplinary hearings, and often just fire somebody on the spot for things like theft, etc and as a result they end up paying out not because there was merit to the employee’s case, but because they never followed the correct procedure.

I do think that the CCMA does favour employees more than employers, but if you hold the correct procedure and fire somebody for valid reasons, you will go there on a far stronger footing. An employer obviously always has his or her revenge in terms of the reference that they give, and it is very difficult for anybody to have a hole in their CV or if any call to that former employer will result in a negative reference. On the other hand, if you take a policy of holding fair hearings, and fighting any case that may be brought afterwards, you will find that you are going to win far more cases, as opposed to simply giving in at conciliation and making an offer.

In my firm we object firstly to the conciliation and arbitration process being held on the same day and simply demand that the Commissioner issues a certificate that the matter cannot be resolved and we fight the case the whole way, with the result that, and certainly in the last five years, we have never lost a CCMA case.
The bottom line is, if you are prepared to fight and the facts are on your side, you will not lose – or very often.