The LAC disallowed the appeal and upheld the unreported judgment of the labour court (Morgan AJ) in declining to grant a review application. An incomplete record of the review proceedings had been lodged. It was not possible to consider all the relevant facts.
Francis Baard District Municipality v Rex NO (JR1000/2011, JA29/2015) [2016] ZALAC 33 (28 June 2016) per CJ Musi JA (Davis JA and Murphy AJA concurring)
LAC summary:
Review of arbitration award – incomplete record filed in the review application – court should enquire whether the missing part of the record is material to the determination of the review. Materiality would be decided after considering, inter alia, the grounds of review, the nature of the missing evidence and the attitude of the arbitrator and the parties. Court should also assess whether all reasonable steps were taken to get the missing part or to reconstruct the record. Missing part of the record linked to the grounds of review – court could not consider the grounds of review in the absence of the facts which it is alleged the commissioner failed to apply his mind to – Evidence showing that applicant also failed to take all reasonableness steps to attempt the reconstruction exercise; neither did the applicant approach the commissioner for reconstruction – right of the applicant to review overweighed by the employee’s right to speedy resolution of the dispute – Labour Court’s judicially exercised its discretion to dismiss the review – Appeal dismissed with costs.
Reported
[2016] 10 BLLR 1009; (2016) 37 ILJ 2560 (LAC)
BLLR Headnote:
Practice and procedure – Reviews – Employer filing partial record of arbitration proceedings without making reasonable attempt to reconstruct – Review impossible without complete record, and application properly dismissed.