CCMA Con/Arb Series

17-AUG-07

3. Arbitration Stage Procedures

Opening & documents

The Arbitration stage is formal and the Commissioner will record the proceedings.

You will sit on one side of the room and the ex-employee on the other, the witnesses will usually sit in the middle.

The Commissioner will ask everyone to confirm their names and their position in the company. Make sure that everything is said into the microphones for the recording.

At this stage you will need your documents compiled into what is referred to as a "bundle", and sufficient copies of the "bundle".

This must be prepared prior to attending the CCMA,

* All relevant documents, in date order for latest on top (include documents of any payments made as the final settlement, that is the payslip & bank deposit slip, certificate of service, and any Unemployment Insurance Fund copies of documents),
* Have a copy for the Commissioner, one for you, one for the ex-employee & another for the witness to look at,
* Make notes of the questions you want to ask or points you want to make, on your copy, so that when you turn to the page, you have a reminder (don¡¦t give your copy to the Commissioner or other party by accident),
* In the bundle of documents include the disciplinary forms & the disciplinary procedure you have,
* Also include the employment contract you have.

Once you are absolutely sure you have all the documents you need included, and then number the pages from top to bottom 1 ¡V what ever number it gets to.

Then create an index, which becomes the front of your document, it will look something like this:

Index Page No
Notice of Meeting date CCMA 1
Advice of dispute CCMA 2
Termination payment document 10
Evidence complaint document 14
Notification of disciplinary hearing 16
Employment Contract 55
* Write a brief introduction - this is your statement of case, this is very similar to what you said to the Commissioner in the Conciliation phase, what you did, why you believe it was correct both in terms of the procedures & the level of sanction (dismissal) & why you believe your procedure was appropriate to your size of company.

* Make sure that you indicate that you know about the Code of Good Practice on Dismissal (Print out a copy and have it with you.)

* Also make sure that you the Commissioner understands the importance to your small business of your good name & customer service

Note: 1. Where possible, and this will often depend on the level of sophistication and co-operation of the ex-employee, arrange a meeting with the ex-employee to go through each document in the bundle.

2. The purpose of the meeting is for you and the ex-employee to agree that each document is the correct document, (for example: this is the notice of the dismissal which you received?), and to reduce the number of issues which are in dispute.

3. You will then be able to save the Commissioner time and the Arbitration can focus on what is disputed between you and the ex-employee.