Methods of reducing the referral of frivolous cases to the CCMA

Abstract

The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration is a statutory labour dispute resolution body that was introduced in 1996. With over 125 000 referrals annually, experience has demonstrated that too many frivolous cases are referred, causing administrative problems and potentially increasing the cost of doing business in South Africa. Propositions, based on international experience from three other labour dispute resolution systems and recommendations in the literature, were tested with the aid of the Delphi technique. Three rounds were conducted with experts in the field. The findings show that there are a number of interventions which, if implemented, would prevent the referral of frivolous cases to the CCMA. In implementing the interventions, the underlying principle needs to be that rights of access and use should be enhanced and not narrowed. Therefore, the interventions focusing on enhancing systems are deemed preferable to those that use exclusionary criteria.