Limkokwing, former workers to butt heads at Appeals Court
Mpho Mokwape | Friday January 15, 2021 17:19
The campus, which escaped a sale in execution last year for allegedly failing to pay salary arrears to its former employees, is still fighting the allegations that it owes its then employees over P1 million in salary arrears.
Limkokwing has been in a legal battle with 42 of its former employees and in 2020 everything came to a standstill when its properties were to be auctioned following a default award issued against them by the Labour office.
According to court documents seen by Mmegi, on February 19, 2019, part time arbitrator Thembo Lebang awarded the former employees default award against the University. The award gave the ex-employees the leverage to auction the University’s property to recover their owed salary arrears.
This was reportedly after Limkokwing failed to show up at the set time on January 22, 2019 after both parties reportedly agreed to go for arbitration at the Labour office.
“By a letter dated December 12, 2018, the Commissioner of Labour advised parties to the dispute of the decision to have an arbitration hearing. At the set time and venue both the Arbitrator and the applicants were ready to commence the hearing, but the respondents had not arrived. No word was received from them until late citing transport difficulties,” read the documents.
Subsequently leading to a default award the University representatives failed to pitch up for the hearing on time.
However, the University through its lawyer Moses Kadye successfully stayed the sale in execution at the Industrial Court through an order issued on May 31, 2019 while filing an appeal against Arbitrator’s decision.
Now the case has moved to the CoA for the January session as the University is appealing the decision on grounds that amongst other things the part time Arbitrator erred in law by determining and dismissing their application for the reversal of the default award without affording them an opportunity to be heard.
Meanwhile, at the heart of the dispute is whether the University owed the former employees any salary arrears under two claims.
The former employees want Limkokwing to pay salary arrears for the three percent annual salary notch for experience as it was agreed in the 2012 Collective Labour Agreement.
According to the applicants’ case, they were employed by the University in their different capacities at various dates of employment. Their contracts of employment were then terminated on grounds of operational requirements in January 2017.
Their claim is reportedly in two parts, one being that up until March 2016 they were each paid a monthly salary, which had been increased annually by three percent, as agreed, being a registered collective agreement that was submitted to the Arbitrator prior to the hearing. The applicants claimed that they got the three percent annually from April 2012, but only realised that the respondent did not do so from April 2016 until January 16, 2017 when they were retrenched.
The employees other claim was that still in 2012 the parties agreed to an interim salary structure pending the conclusion of the job analysis and evaluation exercise which was being carried out.
According to court documents, the applicants claimed that the University implemented the agreed interim salary structure in 2012. However, it was replaced by another unknown one to them in 2013.