Edcon workers to appeal against retrenchment ruling

RETRENCHMENTS by Edcon between 2013 and last year have returned to haunt the company.

About 3 000 employees were let go between April 2013 and last year in a process allegedly riddled with procedural errors – and now its ex-workers are demanding the clothing retailer pay for its mistakes.

Of the retrenched workers, 1 331 are taking the company on appeal to the Constitutional Court, claiming their dismissals are invalid and demanding to be reinstated with full back pay.

The workers say the company failed to comply with the Labour Relations Act by referring their retrenchments to the Commis- sion for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration and did not wait the required time before issuing notices terminating contracts.

“If an employer who retrenches a large number of employees is not aware of the law as it stands, it has only itself to blame,” the workers say.

The matter will be heard on Tuesday. Edcon, which owns Edgars and Jet among others, wants the appeal thrown out.

The workers are appealing against a March Labour Appeal Court (LAC) judgment that failure to comply with sections of the act rendered dismissals invalid was an erroneous interpretation.

The ruling was made despite two previous LAC judgments making the opposite finding.