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Condonation
Provided by the
Commission for conciliation, mediation and Arbitration (CCMA)
An employee
must refer the dispute to the CCMA within 30 days. If the employee fails
to do this within that time period, he is required to make application
to the Commission to condone the reason that he failed to refer his case
timeously. This application should preferably be dealt with prior to the
conciliation taking place as it is a jurisdictional fact that needs to
be dealt with. However, the LRA states that the Commission can condone
as late referral at any time, so if it has not been dealt with at the
pre-conciliation phase, it should be dealt with as soon as everyone
realises that it needs to be considered.
You calculate the 30 days by excluding the first day and including the
last day. All days are counted which means weekends and public holidays
are included.
The Commissioner considers the following when deciding whether or not to
grant condonation:
The degree of lateness of the referral
The reason for the lateness
The prospects of success on the merits
The prejudice to both parties which includes the importance of the
matter to each party
The applicant may make use of the CCMA's pro forma affidavits when
applying for condonation. | 
