Ms Maria Jane Mogaila was employed by Coca Cola Fortune (Pty) Limited from 2001 until her dismissal in November 2007 following a disciplinary enquiry. She referred an unfair dismissal dispute to the CCMA. In April 2008, a CCMA commissioner found the dismissal substantively unfair and ordered her reinstatement with effect from June 2008, together with six months’ back pay. Coca Cola unsuccessfully reviewed the award in the Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court, with the final petition dismissed in October 2013. When Ms Mogaila reported for duty thereafter, Coca Cola refused to reinstate her, contending that the reinstatement order constituted a ‘debt’ that had prescribed after three years in terms of the Prescription Act 68 of 1969. Ms Mogaila approached the Constitutional Court directly, seeking a declaration that the reinstatement award had not prescribed.