What next after dismissal?

Davies Ndumiso Sibanda
MANY employees are not sure what to do after they have been dismissed in a manner that they feel is unfair and as such make emotional appeals, which have no relevance to their cases. The first thing is that dismissal by its very nature is a traumatic experience as it cuts the source of income whose ripple effect in one’s personal life could be devastating given that things like source of food, accommodation where there are children, their source of education funding is extinguished and many other personal plans are negatively affected.

Employees should in the first instance avoid acts that could get them into trouble, they must be clear on the written and unwritten rules of the organisation so as to minimise instances where the employer takes the action to dismiss.

However, there are times when the employees have complied with all written and unwritten rules that the employer will proceed and dismiss them unfairly and the reasons for unfair dismissals are many and they include personal hatred, jealousy and many others.

Once one has been dismissed the next stage is to appeal. Making an appeal is a technical legal process which many workers are unable to do on their own. One would need assistance from a trained workers committee, a trade unionist, a labour consultant or a lawyer. The process is so technical and involving in that case law and appeal rules have to be observed. For example, the grounds of appeal must be very clear, more so, given the fact that our labour cases cannot be decided on a point of law without venturing into the merits of the case unless prejudice related to procedure can be proved.

From the above, it is obvious that an untrained mind is bound to make mistakes and at a later stage and usually at the Labour Court the matter is thrown out because the dismissed worker’s application will be defective. I recall a case of an employee who appealed and stated that the hearing was not properly constituted and when the arbitrator asked where prejudice was, the employee could not make any tangible submissions and the matter was thrown out as that was the only ground of appeal.

This was despite the fact that the employee had good grounds of appeal or merit. The matter became complicated as the worker tried to appeal on merit out of time and as such was filing an application for condonation of late filing of an appeal which the employer sought guidance, his appeal would have hinged on merits of the case rather than case law.

In conclusion, dismissed employees should seek guidance on whether their cases are appealable and where appealable, they should be guided by knowledgeable people in the preparation of grounds of appeal.

l Davies Ndumiso Sibanda can be contacted on: email: [email protected] or cell No: 0772 375 235.