Judgment No. SC 26/18 10 Civil Appeal No. SC 164/16 Whether the court a quo erred by failing to make a determination on whether the arbitrator strayed from his terms of reference. The appellant submits that the court a quo erred in failing to make a determination on the issue whether the Arbitrator went outside his terms of reference. This issue was raised as a ground of appeal in the court a quo and the court stated the following regarding the same: “It is inconceivable that the Appellant argues that the arbitrator erred in delving into the issue of normalising the compensation system when it was not asked to do so, yet the employer tried to normalise the system before going to arbitration by paying unexplained $40.00 to each employee that would put the respondents’ salary at $400.00 from $360.00.” The only issue on the terms of reference to the arbitrator was whether or not the respondents were entitled to back-pay. A perusal of the ruling by the arbitrator shows that he indicated that the appellant was gravitating towards “a normal payment system. Thereafter the arbitrator ordered the appellant to normalise its remuneration system. This was not part of his terms of reference. A reading of the remarks by the learned Judge shows that she failed to appreciate the issue that was before her. The court a quo presumed that the appellant was aggrieved by the fact that it was ordered to normalise the system. In making that presumption, it failed to appreciate that the grievance was that the arbitrator did not have the power to make such an order as the issue had not been placed before the arbitrator for determination. The court a quo fell into the same error as the arbitrator. Instead of determining the ground of appeal raised on the arbitrator’s alleged departure from his terms of reference, the court