To refer a dispute to the CCMA, you complete a referral form, serve it on your employer, and send the form with proof of service to the CCMA before your deadline expires. For a dismissal, that deadline is 30 days from the date you were dismissed. The Commission then sets the matter down for conciliation, and if that fails, for arbitration, where a commissioner hears both sides and issues a binding award.
Most people referring a dispute are doing it for the first time, under pressure, with a clock already running. Miss the deadline or serve the form incorrectly and the CCMA may refuse to hear the matter at all. Here is the referral itself first, followed by what each stage involves and where a labour attorney changes the outcome.
How to refer a dispute to the CCMA step by step
The referral is a defined process, and getting each step right is what gives the CCMA authority to hear your matter. Follow these steps in order:
- Complete the referral form. This is the LRA Form 7.11, which asks for your details, the employer’s details, the nature of the dispute and the outcome you want. Accuracy matters, because errors here can render the referral defective.
- Serve the form on your employer. Deliver it by hand, email, or registered post, and keep evidence of how and when you did so.
- Prove service to the CCMA. Send the completed form to the CCMA together with proof that the employer has received it, by hand, email or fax.
- Wait for the CCMA to set the matter down. The Commission contacts both parties, usually within 30 days, with the venue and date for the first hearing, which is conciliation.
- Attend on the date given. Both parties are expected to appear, and the process moves forward from there.
If the referring party makes errors in completing or serving the form, the referral can be defective, and the CCMA may find it has no jurisdiction to hear the matter. A dispute thrown out on a technicality still counts against your deadline, so precision here protects everything that follows.
Deadlines you cannot afford to miss
The single most common reason a good case never gets heard is a missed deadline. An unfair dismissal dispute must reach the CCMA within 30 days of the date of dismissal. An unfair labour practice dispute must be referred within 90 days of the act or omission you are complaining about. A discrimination dispute has a longer window of six months.
These are calendar days, not working days, so weekends and public holidays count. Deadlines run from the date the dispute arose, which for a dismissal is usually your last day of employment.
Miss the deadline and your matter is not automatically over, but you are on the back foot. You must apply for condonation, asking the commissioner to accept a late referral, which means showing a good reason for the delay and that your case has reasonable prospects. Condonation is granted at the commissioner’s discretion, not as a right, and a weak explanation sinks otherwise strong cases.
The conciliation phase
Conciliation is the first hearing, the CCMA’s attempt to settle the dispute by agreement. You and your employer meet with a commissioner whose role is to help both sides find common ground, not to decide who is right. The discussions are confidential and without prejudice, so offers made in conciliation cannot later be used against either party at arbitration.
Legal representation is not allowed at conciliation. You may represent yourself, or be assisted by a co-employee or a registered trade union official. That does not mean a lawyer has no role, since an attorney can prepare you beforehand and make sure you do not accept less than your claim is worth under pressure.
If the parties agree, the commissioner records it in a settlement that is binding and enforceable. If they cannot, the commissioner issues a certificate of outcome confirming the dispute remains unresolved. That certificate is your key to the next stage, because without it you cannot take most disputes to arbitration.
What happens at arbitration
Arbitration is the formal hearing where a commissioner listens to evidence and makes a binding decision. To get there, you refer the dispute using the LRA Form 7.13, and for most dismissal disputes you must do so within 90 days of the certificate of outcome being issued. It is adversarial rather than cooperative, closer to a court hearing than the settlement talks of conciliation.
At the hearing, each side makes an opening statement, then leads its evidence under oath and calls witnesses. Both parties can cross-examine the other side’s witnesses, often where cases are won or lost, and then make closing arguments. The commissioner weighs the evidence against the Labour Relations Act and issues an arbitration award, normally within 14 days. That award is final and binding, and can be enforced like an order of the Labour Court.
One trap catches many people off guard. In certain matters, including some dismissals during probation, the CCMA runs a combined process called con-arb, where conciliation and arbitration happen on the same day. If you arrive expecting only an informal settlement discussion and are not ready to lead evidence and cross-examine, you can lose the arbitration before you realised it began. Knowing in advance whether your matter is a con-arb is essential preparation.
Legal representation at arbitration is more open than at conciliation, but not automatic. For dismissals involving misconduct or incapacity, you are not entitled to an attorney as of right, and the commissioner decides whether to allow it after weighing the complexity of the case and the views of both parties. For other disputes, a legal practitioner is generally permitted.
After the award: review and rescission
An arbitration award is final, but not always the end of the road. If a commissioner committed misconduct, made a gross irregularity, exceeded their powers, or reached the award improperly, a party can take the award on review to the Labour Court. Review is not a second chance to argue the merits; it challenges how the commissioner conducted the process, and it runs on the Labour Court’s rules.
A separate route is rescission, where you apply to the CCMA itself to set aside an award, most commonly where it was granted by default because a party did not attend. Both are technical applications built on affidavits and legal argument, and both carry strict deadlines. If either succeeds, the matter may have to be arbitrated afresh.
What is the CCMA?
The CCMA is the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, the independent body that resolves most workplace disputes in South Africa. It was created by the Labour Relations Act to settle disagreements between employers and employees without the cost and delay of going straight to court. Its two core functions are conciliation, where a commissioner helps both sides reach an agreement, and arbitration, where a commissioner hears evidence and makes a binding decision.
Using the CCMA is free. You do not pay a fee to refer a dispute or to attend conciliation or arbitration, which is part of why it handles the bulk of the country’s labour matters. The only costs that arise are optional ones, such as bringing a labour attorney to advise or represent you where the rules allow.
The Commission is genuinely independent and does not take the employer’s side or the employee’s. A commissioner’s job is to apply the Labour Relations Act to the facts in front of them, which means the strength of your case rests on how well it is prepared and presented.
What cases go to the CCMA and which do not
The CCMA hears most disputes that arise from the employment relationship. The common ones are unfair dismissal, where you believe you were dismissed without a fair reason or a fair procedure, unfair labour practice, which covers disputes over promotions and demotions or withheld benefits, and discrimination on grounds such as race or gender.
Some matters fall outside its authority. Disputes covered by a bargaining council go to that council, and claims involving independent contractors fall away because the CCMA only assists people who meet the legal definition of an employee. Large-scale retrenchment disputes are conciliated at the CCMA but then proceed to the Labour Court if unresolved, though a single retrenched employee can elect CCMA arbitration instead. Our guide to retrenchment explains where those matters go in more detail.
Who counts as an employee?
The CCMA only assists people who meet the legal definition of an employee under the Labour Relations Act, so this is worth checking before you refer. You are likely an employee if any of the following apply:
- the business controls how and when you do your work
- your working hours are set by someone else
- you are economically dependent on the person you work for
- you have worked an average of 40 hours a month for the same person over the last three months
- you are given your tools and work equipment by them
Permanent staff, fixed-term staff and casual workers can all qualify, while a genuinely self-employed contractor falls outside the CCMA’s reach.
Can I report my employer to the CCMA?
Yes, if you are an employee and your dispute is one the CCMA has authority to hear. You do not need your employer’s permission or a lawyer to start the process. What you do need is to fall within the definition of an employee under the Labour Relations Act, which turns on factors like whether the employer controls how and when you work and whether you are economically dependent on them.
When a labour attorney makes a real difference
For a straightforward dispute with clean facts and a clear deadline, many employees handle the referral and conciliation themselves, and the CCMA is designed to make that possible. It becomes harder the moment there is a jurisdiction question, a missed deadline needing condonation, a con-arb you have to be ready for, or an arbitration that turns on cross-examination. These are the points where legal knowledge changes the result rather than just the paperwork.
An attorney also matters when the stakes are high or the other side is already represented. Employers often bring experienced consultants or their own lawyers to arbitration, and facing that alone puts you at a disadvantage that has nothing to do with the merits of your case.
SB Lawyers has handled CCMA referrals, from conciliation through to arbitration, for both employees and employers for more than two decades, from its offices in Pretoria and Nelspruit, alongside the dismissal and retrenchment work that so often leads to them.
If you are facing a workplace dispute and want to understand your position before a deadline forces your hand, contact the labour law team for advice tailored to your situation.