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Ndumiso Davies Sibanda Labour Matters
MANY employers struggle with handling cases of alleged unfair dismissal by employees they would have dismissed resulting in long expensive disputes and at times out of court settlements that are expensive for the business leaving the business with huge labour relations problems.

Unfair labour cases can originate from dismissals which workers feel are unfair or termination of employment contracts which workers feel are unfair and in most cases these claims include alleged underpayment, unpaid overtime, unpaid leave days running to several years and the most common one being expectation of being re-engaged or allegations of being permanent.

All these allegations can be costly or even sink the business if not correctly handled. The starting point is for the employer to accept that these issues are technical and that they can easily have an expensive ripple effect even if the dismissed worker wins his case and remaining employees also demand the same. Where the employer is not sure, the employer must seek advice from labour experts, lawyers and employers’ associations.

There are times when workers are represented by trade unionists and many employers feel intimidated. There is no reason to fear trade unionists as the majority of trade union representatives are very reasonable people who will work at finding a solution to their members’ problems and at the same time avoid anything that could compromise their members’ jobs. In most cases trade unionists are flexible and will make compromises if the employer is also willing to negotiate. There are cases though where negotiations will not work and parties will have to go for arbitration or approach other superior courts like the Labour Court.

The choice of whether to negotiate or to fight must be guided by expert advice as there are pros and cons for each approach. For example, losing one’s case can result in a flood of cases against the employer by both former and serving employees a thing that can cripple an organisation and at times leave everyone jobless.

To avoid all these problems employers need to follow all labour laws of the country and ensure compliance with all statutory requirements. Contracts given to employees must be watertight without loopholes that will come back to haunt the business.

It is always wise to have human resources policies and procedures set by an expert to avoid making procedural errors later. It is an expensive process but it is much cheaper than the cost of mistakes.

In conclusion, unfair dismissal allegations will always be there and what matters is that each case must be handled in a legal manner to avoid getting into expensive labour litigation and payment of back-pays and damages.

Davies Ndumiso Sibanda is reachable on 0772 375 235 or [email protected].