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Article: Hearings must be formal, and also fair; Onus on employer to prove employee had a chance to state his case.(Workplace)
- Article from:
- The Star (South Africa)
- Article date:
- January 22, 2007
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Independent News & Media PLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Several months ago I cited the case of Ausa obo Melville v SA Airways Technical.
In that case the arbitrator quoted the following finding of Brassey: "The Code of Good Practice in Schedule 8 makes it clear that, while the process can be informal, the employee should nevertheless be told what case he has to meet and be given a proper opportunity to prepare and present his response."
While it is clear that the above-mentioned Code of Good Practice provides that the disciplinary hearing need not be formal, section 188 (1) (b) of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) states that the employer has the onus of proving that a dismissal was procedurally fair.
The key question is: ...