Two KZN education officials will argue before the Constitutional Court that promotions they received were valid and lawfully granted.
|||Johannesburg - Two KwaZulu-Natal education officials will argue before the Constitutional Court on Thursday that promotions they received were valid and lawfully granted.
In March 2004, both employees applied for the same advertised job.
The first applicant was promoted to the post in April that year.
The second, who was not short-listed for the job, lodged a grievance with the department. The grievance was sent to the general public service sectoral bargaining council and an arbitration process started.
Before arbitration was complete, a settlement was reached in terms of which the department granted the applicant protected promotion.
In October 2005, other staff complained about irregularities in the department's advertising and appointment procedures, citing the April 2004 promotion and the protected promotion as examples.
In 2007, a task team set up to probe the allegations found that the appointment procedures were irregular.
In October 2008, the KwaZulu-Natal education MEC took the matter to the Labour Court, seeking to have the two promotions reviewed and set aside.
The Labour Court granted this, and the applicants' application to the Labour Appeal Court to have the ruling overturned was dismissed.
At the Constitutional Court on Thursday, they will again seek leave to appeal the Labour Court's ruling, arguing that their promotions were valid.
They also contend that the MEC was not entitled to take the matter to the Labour Court.
Sapa