George Municipality's attempt to legitimise unqualified HR appointment rejected by Labour Court
Image: File
The George Municipality's Labour Court bid to have a now-retired employee's appointment declared lawful following an arbitration sanction has been dismissed when the court upheld that the appointment flouted fair labour practice.
This was after the municipality appointed a woman as a Human Resources manager in 2015 without having the minimum qualification requirement. A commissioner of the South African Local Government Bargaining Council found that the municipality committed an unfair labour practice in shortlisting and appointing the woman without the NQF Level 7 qualification.
This prejudiced two other employees who applied for the same position and held the required qualification but ranked lower in the interviewing process.
The employee has since retired.
The municipality sought the arbitration sanction to be reviewed and set aside, and for it to be heard afresh before a new commissioner.
It was in 2019, during an audit of the municipality's Human Resources Department, that the two employees who held the qualification became aware that their now-former colleague did not have an NQF level 7 qualification when she was appointed, as she was missing one subject for her qualification.
Acting Judge of the Labour Court, Glen Cassells, noted in his judgment that no condition was stipulated in the woman's appointment letter that she was required to obtain the qualification within a reasonable time.
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