Dealing with legal documents can sometimes feel intimidating. When you refer a matter to the CCMA, you will need to fill in form LRA 7.11. Scorpion Legal Protection will take you through how to fill in this form, step by step.
To refer a matter to the CCMA, you will need to complete and submit a CCMA referral form, also known as LRA 7.11. You can download the form here. You will see a list of Word documents you can download – look for “7.11_Referring a dispute to the CCMA for conciliation With POPIA Disclaimer”.
You will see the document has the CCMA POPIA Consent Form attached at the back. Make sure you fill this in as well because the CCMA will not process your referral unless you have given express consent for them to process your personal information.
Section 1 - DETAILS OF PARTY REFERRING DISPUTE: you will fill in your personal details as the referring party. If the referral is being done by your trade union representative then they will fill in the form on your behalf. Make sure you give them correct contact details for yourself and for section 1(a) where they ask for Alternative contact details of the employee (representative/relative or friend). If they can’t contact you then it will make taking the case forward very difficult. If you are an employee, then you will not need to fill in section 1(b).
Section 2 - DETAILS OF THE OTHER PARTY: you need to fill in the details of your employer or the employer’s organisation if you know it. Fill in as much as you can here. The more information you can give the CCMA, the easier it will be to process your case.
Section 3 - NATURE OF THE DISPUTE: It is quite important to select the correct dispute on this section. For example, in our previous article we spoke about what to do if you are unhappy about your severance package. You need to be specific about what exactly it is you want the CCMA to deal with: if you want to challenge the retrenchment process, you need to select the Dismissal box followed by the Operational Requirements (Retrenchments) box in the next section. If you want to challenge only the severance pay you received or are yet to receive, you will then select the Severance Pay box only.
Section 4 - SUMMARISE THE FACTS OF THE DISPUTE: You need to give a brief description of the facts that will assist the CCMA commissioner to understand what happened and led up to the dispute. If you can’t fit everything in the space provided, write on a clean sheet of paper and attach it to the form at the back (make a note at section 4 that you have attached a separate paper with your description on it).
Section 5 - DATE AND PLACE WHERE DISPUTE AROSE: You will need to mention when and where the dispute started. This is to allow the region in which you referred the case to determine whether it has jurisdiction to listen to your case or whether there is a need to transfer your case to another region.
Section 6 - DATE OF DISMISSAL (if applicable): If you have already been dismissed then you will need to insert the date of dismissal here. If you have not been dismissed, then leave this empty.
Section 7 - FAIRNESS/UNFAIRNESS OF DISMISSAL (if applicable): You will need to mention whether you want to challenge the procedural unfairness (i.e. the employer failed to hold consultation processes with the affected employees before deciding to retrench) or the substantive fairness (i.e. the employer said he retrenched employees because their position has become redundant, but there are new employees appointed and occupying the so-called redundant positions or that the severance pay does not comply with the BCEA and GN 691.) Or if you are referring the dispute on both procedurally and substantively unfair reasons you can mark both.
Section 8 - RESULTS REQUIRED: In terms of s193 of the LRA the available remedies for unfairly dismissed employees are: being reinstated to the same position you occupied before dismissal, re-employment into a different position because the previous position might not be available anymore, or compensation up to a maximum of 12 months for unfair dismissal cases. You need to fill in here what you are looking for.
Sections 9 – 13 are self-explanatory, just fill in the information indicated. If you mark yes under Section 11 – DISCRIMINATION MATTER then you will have to prove to the CCMA that you tried to resolve things internally with the employer first before coming to the CCMA. This can include emails or meetings, lodging a formal grievance and any other process you followed as set out in the company policy. If you can’t show that you tried to resolve the matter with your employer first, the CCMA may reject the matter.
It’s important to fill in as much information as you can. If you leave sections out, it will take the CCMA longer to process your case.
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If you have a query, follow Scorpion Legal Protection on Facebook and ask your question during our next Live Q&A (every first Thursday of the month from 11:30- 13:30).
* This is only basic paralegal advice and cannot be relied on solely. The information is correct at the time of being sent to publishing.