The Applicant was employed as Business Manager at Pinelands High School. He was dismissed from this position and referred an unfair dismissal dispute to the CCMA. At the CCMA, the parties were the applicant and the Pinelands High School (First Respondent) and the Governing Body of Pinelands High School (Second Respondent). The CCMA made an in limine ruling that Pinelands High School was the employer. The CCMA found that the applicant's dismissal was both procedurally and substantively fair. Neither the in limine ruling nor the arbitration award were taken on review. The Applicant then approached the Labour Court seeking reinstatement or damages, claiming that his removal was unlawful because the Second Respondent (the School Governing Body) was not his employer, and that the failure to reinstate him constituted an unlawful breach of his employment contract. The matter came before the Labour Court on points in limine challenging the court's jurisdiction.
The Applicant's claim was dismissed for want of jurisdiction. No order as to costs was made against the individual applicant.
An employee who has approached the CCMA on the basis of an alleged unfair dismissal cannot, after being unsuccessful in that forum, approach the Labour Court on the basis that the termination of the employment contract did not constitute a dismissal in law or was unlawful for reasons other than unfairness. Termination of an employment contract is a factual phenomenon. Once an employee has chosen to pursue a particular cause of action through the LRA dispute resolution mechanisms (the CCMA), they cannot abandon that cause of action and pursue a new one in the Labour Court based on the same factual event. The Labour Court lacks jurisdiction to hear such a claim as it would breach the architecture of employment law and undermine the principle of speedy resolution of disputes.
The Court noted that while counsel for the respondents sought to argue the jurisdictional point as a species of res judicata, the Court found mero motu (of its own accord) that it lacked jurisdiction, without definitively ruling on whether the res judicata doctrine strictly applied. The Court also observed that it all depends on how an employee pleads their case before the CCMA - nothing bars an employee from approaching the CCMA for relief, but they are bound by the nature of the claim they pursue in that forum. The Court made no order as to costs against the individual applicant, showing some discretion in recognition that the applicant appeared in person.
This case reinforces the principle that an employee cannot pursue multiple causes of action in different forums arising from the same factual event (termination of employment). It establishes that once an employee has characterized the termination of employment as a dismissal and pursued an unfair dismissal claim at the CCMA, they cannot subsequently approach the Labour Court claiming that no valid dismissal occurred and seeking remedies for breach of contract. The case upholds the integrity of the LRA's dispute resolution framework and the principle of finality in labour disputes. It prevents forum shopping and multiple bites at the cherry, thereby promoting certainty, efficiency and the constitutional imperative of speedy resolution of labour disputes.