How Appeals Process against Labour Court Ruling Unfolded

In the matter of National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa obo Motloung and Others v Polyoak Packaging (Pty) Ltd Metal and Engineering Industries and Others (DA02/23) [2024] ZALAC 66; [2025] 3 BLLR 227 (LAC); (2025) 46 ILJ 552 (LAC) (17 December 2024), the Labour Appeal Court (LAC) heard the case of 19 employees who participated in misconduct in 2018.

The events stemmed from a protected national plastics industry strike that began on 15 October 2018. During this time, the employer secured an interim interdict from the Labour Court (LC) on 19 October 2018, which prohibited employees from acts such as harassment, intimidation, and interfering with business operations. Despite this, a group of employees were implicated in violating the court order.

The employer identified and charged 21 employees with misconduct, including breaching the interdict, intimidating others, and obstructing company operations. The disciplinary hearing, conducted by the CCMA, led to all 21 being dismissed. NUMSA then referred the matter to the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council for arbitration.

The Arbitrator upheld the fairness of the dismissals for 11 employees, which NUMSA did not contest. For the remaining 10, the Arbitrator found six had been unfairly dismissed and ordered their reinstatement with limited backpay. Four others, though found guilty of some misconduct, were granted compensation as they had not been charged for the specific conduct. These included Tumelo Motloung, whose actions were not aligned with the charges, and three others – Sokhela, Jezile, and Ngubane – whose acts had the potential to impair future workplace relations.

Both NUMSA and the employer approached the LC to review the Arbitrator’s ruling. The employer argued that the Arbitrator had irrationally distinguished between employees who stood on the left- and right-hand sides of a road during the protest. The employer presented video evidence showing that all employees had participated in barricading the road, including those who were reinstated. NUMSA, meanwhile, contended that the reinstated workers should receive full retrospective backpay and that the four compensated workers should be reinstated as well.

The LC overturned the reinstatement and compensation awards for 7 of the 10 employees, finding the Arbitrator's conclusions to be unreasonable and unsupported by the video evidence and witness testimony. However, it upheld compensation for 2, citing that while their conduct was inappropriate, it was not part of the charges brought against them.

The LAC found that the Arbitrator had misread the evidence and that his sympathy for long-serving employees had improperly influenced the outcome. The Court held that all 19 employees were fairly dismissed for their roles in obstructing company vehicles and participating in the barricade.

Ultimately, the LAC dismissed NUMSA’s appeal. It confirmed that the dismissals of the 19 workers were substantively and procedurally fair, while only 2 were entitled to compensation. The judgment also criticised the delay in finalising the dispute, which had dragged on for six years, undermining the goal of expeditious dispute resolution envisioned by the Labour Relations Act.

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