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Judgment No. SC 35/18
Civil Appeal No. SC 519/17
from the arbitral award, the Labour Court rejected two and upheld three of those claims.
The present appeal lies against the latter decision. There was no cross-appeal by the
respondent.
The Decision of the Labour Court
The court a quo found that the arbitrator’s award of an outstanding 5 per cent
salary allowance was unclear and that, as was conceded by the respondent, the arbitrator
fell into error in that respect. The court also reversed the award of an engineer’s allowance
on the basis that the payment of this allowance to some but not all employees was not
arbitrary but premised on a rational differentiation in skills and the exigencies of the
appellant’s business.
As regards the school fees allowance, the court found that this allowance was
introduced by a Collective Bargaining Agreement concluded in 2009 (the 2009 CBA) and
had become a vested contractual entitlement. The appellant could not unilaterally withdraw
it and the arbitrator’s decision to restore this allowance was therefore correct.
With respect to the claim for an increase in the fuel allowance, the court noted
that the arbitrator did not allow or dismiss the claim but simply ordered the parties to
negotiate a reasonable quantum within 30 days. The ground of appeal in this connection
was unmeritorious and accordingly dismissed.
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