Abstract

When will a court find it ‘just and equitable’ to intervene during incomplete proceedings in terms of s 158(1B) of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (LRA)? It is becoming more and more commonplace, contrary to the purpose of the LRA, to bring reviews during incomplete Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and bargaining council proceedings. It is therefore necessary to clarify when a court will exercise its discretion to review proceedings before their finalisation. Since determining what is ‘just and equitable’ has been a ‘difficult horse to ride’ for the court and litigants alike, it is necessary for principles to be extracted from previous decisions in order to produce concrete rules that will assist with establishing when a court may intervene during incomplete proceedings in terms of s 158(1B) in accordance with legal certainty and stare decisis. In this contribution, the history of case law is traced in an attempt to distil relevant concrete principles that can assist practitioners and courts in this determination.