The Labour Court roll is dominated by review applications. A review application is the result of a party’s unhappiness with the award from the CCMA or bargaining council. The disgruntled party’s recourse is to launch an application in the Labour Court for the review of the award.

A new legal title from LexisNexis South Africa addresses these proceedings. Reviews in the Labour Courts provides excellent guidance for labour practitioners and is a must-have manual for all labour lawyers, advocates, judges, CCMA commissioners, bargaining council arbitrators, unions, HR/IR practitioners, in-house counsel, lecturers and post-graduate students. The authors are two of South Africa’s leading labour law advocates, Anton Myburgh SC and Craig Bosch.

The Constitutional Court, in the leading judgment of Sidumo, set out the test on review: “Is the decision reached by the commissioner one that a reasonable decision-maker could not reach.” Whilst the ‘Sidumo test’ appeared narrow, the Constitutional Court found that CCMA awards constitute administrative action and so the constitutional standard of reasonableness suffuses Section 145 of the Labour Relations Act. The result is a massive body of case law that continues to grow, making it difficult for busy practitioners to keep pace.

In his foreword to Reviews in the Labour Courts, Honourable Justice John Murphy said Reviews in the Labour Courts would serve as a practioner’s manual. “Every now and then a law book is written that fills a notable gap in the bookshelves of practising lawyers. This is such a book,” he said. “The arguments are meticulously researched, logically presented and practically relevant. In that way, in addition to its value as a scholarly work, Reviews in the Labour Courts will serve as a practitioner’s manual. The practice of labour law before the labour courts will profit immensely from practitioners embracing the practical teaching of this seminal work.”

Reviews in the Labour Courts will be launched at the SASLAW Annual Conference in Johannesburg on 22 July 2016 and is available through the LexisNexis online bookstore https://store.lexisnexis.co.za/categories/products/reviews-in-the-labour-courts-skuZASKU9780409044850/details at a cost of R800.00 inclusive of VAT and excluding delivery.  

About the Authors

Anton Myburgh, BJuris LLB (UPE): Anton is a senior counsel at the Johannesburg Bar (Sandton); adjunct professor of law at NMMU; past national president of SASLAW; sometime acting judge of the Labour Court.
Craig Bosch, BA LLB (Stell) LLM (UCT): Craig is an advocate at the Cape Bar; research associate at NMMU; former senior lecturer in labour law at UWC, former senior commissioner of the CCMA and bargaining council panellist.