Truter v Travelstart Online Travel Operations (Pty) Ltd

The applicant, Ms Lazanne Truter, referred an unfair discrimination claim to the Labour Court in December 2016. After the respondent delivered a notice of exception, the applicant failed for extended periods to take steps to amend her statement of claim. More than six months elapsed twice without procedural activity, triggering the archiving provisions of the Labour Court Practice Manual. An amended statement of claim was eventually filed late, together with an application for condonation. In November 2018, Steenkamp J dismissed the condonation application and ordered costs de bonis propriis against the applicant’s attorneys. In 2019, the applicant launched a further application framed as one to retrieve the file from the archives, relying on new evidence of her personal efforts to prosecute the case and attributing delays to her former attorneys.

The respondent’s in limine objection based on res judicata was upheld and the application to retrieve the archived referral was dismissed. No order as to costs was made.

The judgment affirms that in Labour Court procedure, an application to retrieve an archived matter is effectively a form of condonation. Once condonation for the same non-compliance has been finally refused, the matter cannot be revived through a differently framed application. The case reinforces the strict application of res judicata in labour litigation and underscores the importance of complying with the Labour Court Practice Manual.