How to Open a Case at CCMA Online

To open a case at the CCMA online, an employee or employer logs in to the CCMA’s online referral portal at refer.ccma.org.za, completes the prescribed referral form, and submits the dispute electronically — the Commission then issues a case number and schedules a conciliation hearing at the relevant regional office. For unfair-dismissal disputes the referral must be filed within 30 calendar days of the date of dismissal as required by section 191 of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (with condonation for late referral only available on good cause shown), and for most other disputes the equivalent statutory deadlines under the LRA also apply. If the dispute remains unresolved at conciliation, the matter moves to arbitration (or con-arb, the combined conciliation-and-arbitration process) before a CCMA commissioner.

Who Uses the CCMA and for What Disputes

The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) is the independent statutory body established under the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 to resolve labour disputes through conciliation, mediation, and arbitration. It is a national body — there is no provincial layer — so an employee sitting in Cape Town and an employer sitting in Polokwane use the same portal and the same procedural rules.

Disputes that may be referred to the CCMA include:

• Unfair dismissal (including constructive dismissal and automatically unfair dismissal)
• Unfair labour practice
• Workplace discrimination (race, gender, disability, HIV status, and other grounds under the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998)
• Severance pay disputes
• Wage disputes and disputes over interpretation or application of collective agreements
• Organisational rights disputes
• Disputes over strikes, lock-outs, and picketing rules

Either an employee, an employer, a registered trade union, or an employers’ organisation may refer a dispute — the CCMA’s online portal handles both directions of referral, and consent of the other party is not required.

Some matters fall outside the CCMA’s jurisdiction and must be excluded: disputes involving an independent contractor, matters not governed by the Labour Relations Act or the Employment Equity Act, disputes in sectors covered by a functioning bargaining or statutory council, and matters where the parties have agreed to private arbitration. BCEA-only issues (such as a pure working-hours complaint with no dismissal element) generally have to be conciliated under the Department of Employment and Labour’s inspectorate route, although they may be linked to an unfair dismissal or retrenchment referral at the CCMA.

Is Online Referral the Right Route? What the Portal Does and Does Not Cover

The CCMA’s online referral portal is designed for the pre-hearing stage of a dispute — getting the matter formally onto the Commission’s roll. It does not replace the hearing itself, and it does not provide legal advice on whether your claim is a strong one.

What the portal does cover:

• New case referrals — filing the prescribed LRA 7.11 referral form, uploading supporting documents, and paying any prescribed fee.
• Condonation applications — written requests to file a late referral on good cause shown, where the statutory window has already expired.
• Status tracking — viewing scheduled dates, downloading issued documents (certificate of non-resolution, arbitration awards), and checking compliance with commissioner directions.

What the portal is not suitable for:

• Pre-referral advice on whether you actually have a claim — that is a conversation with an attorney or Legal Aid South Africa.
• Legal representation at the hearing itself — representation is arranged separately once a hearing date has been set.
• Post-award enforcement — once an arbitration award is issued, enforcement is handled through the Labour Court and the Sheriff of the court.

The CCMA has progressively expanded its online-hearing services for the conciliation and arbitration sittings themselves, but the scope of those services (which matters are eligible, whether both parties must consent) is updated periodically — check the CCMA’s current guidance at the time of filing. Even where a matter is set down for an online hearing, the online referral portal remains the correct entry point for opening the case.

Statutory Time Limits You Must Respect

The single most common reason CCMA referrals collapse is missing the statutory deadline. The LRA sets different windows for different dispute types:

Dispute type	Statutory deadline	Source
Unfair dismissal (ordinary)	30 calendar days from the date of dismissal	LRA section 191(1)–(2)
Automatically unfair dismissal	30 calendar days (but no conciliation prerequisite before arbitration; consult an attorney)	LRA section 191(5)
Unfair labour practice / discrimination	90 days of the act complained of (varies by complaint type — EEA disputes interact with LRA section 191)	LRA section 191; EEA section 10
Severance pay	30 days from the date severance was due or refused	LRA section 191 read with section 41
Wage disputes and interpretation of collective agreements	Per the relevant LRA section — check the portal and your facts	LRA various

Practical advice: the CCMA’s online portal does not warn you if you are filing late. If you are approaching the deadline, file first and refine the papers afterwards — the date the CCMA issues a case number is what protects your position, even if supporting documents are uploaded later.

What You’ll Need Before You Start the Online Referral

Before you open the portal, gather the following so the form is completed in one sitting:

• A working email address and cellphone number — used for all CCMA correspondence and SMS notifications.
• South African ID number (or passport / asylum-seeker permit / refugee ID if you are not an SA citizen).
• The full name and registered address of the other party — the employer, the trade union, or the employers’ organisation being referred. Naming the wrong respondent (e.g. the holding company instead of the actual employer of record) is a common and avoidable mistake.
• The employee’s date of employment, the date of dismissal (if applicable), and a short factual description of the dispute.
• Supporting documents in PDF format — written contract of employment, written grievance and any response, written notice of dismissal, relevant payslips, severance-pay calculation if severance is in issue.
• Particulars of the relief sought (reinstatement, re-employment, compensation, back pay, severance, etc.) — vague relief makes the eventual arbitration award harder to enforce.

The CCMA’s prescribed fees, where applicable, are set out in the CCMA’s Schedule of Fees. Most individual unfair-dismissal referrals for claims under R70 000 in monetary value are no-fee for the individual employee, with fees scaling upward by claim type. Verify the current schedule on the portal before submitting.

Step-by-Step: How to Open a CCMA Case Online

1. Create or log in to the CCMA online portal at refer.ccma.org.za. First-time users register with an ID number or passport number and a working email address.
2. Select “Refer a Dispute” from the portal menu and choose the dispute type (unfair dismissal, unfair labour practice, severance pay, etc.).
3. Complete the referral form with the parties’ details, the date of the dispute, the LRA section under which you are referring, and a short statement of the facts.
4. Upload supporting documents as PDF attachments. The portal allows multiple uploads — name each clearly and ensure key documents (dismissal letter, contract, grievance correspondence) are included.
5. Confirm the statutory deadline applies. The portal does not warn you if you are late, so verify the 30-day (or applicable) deadline yourself before submitting.
6. Pay any prescribed fee if the dispute type requires one. Most individual unfair-dismissal referrals are no-fee; verify the current schedule on the portal before submission.
7. Submit the referral. The system will generate a CCMA case number and send a confirmation email — the date of this case number is what protects your position if a deadline is later questioned.
8. Wait for the scheduling notice. The CCMA will allocate the dispute to the regional office covering the area where the employer is based and assign a conciliation date (typically within 30 days of referral for unfair-dismissal disputes).
9. Attend conciliation, either in person at the regional office or via the CCMA’s online-hearing platform where it has been activated for your matter. Bring all documentation and a clear sense of the outcome you would accept.
10. If conciliation fails to resolve the dispute, request arbitration (or con-arb). For unfair-dismissal disputes the LRA requires the commissioner to issue an arbitration award within 60 days after the arbitration hearing concludes, though regional backlogs mean the realistic timeline is often longer.

What Happens After the Case Is Opened

Stage	What happens
Conciliation	A commissioner (or trained conciliator) meets with the parties, facilitates settlement, and either resolves the dispute or records that it remains unresolved — issued as a certificate of non-resolution.
Con-arb	A combined conciliation-and-arbitration process available for certain disputes where both parties consent or the commissioner considers it appropriate. The commissioner attempts conciliation first and, if it fails, immediately proceeds to arbitration in the same sitting.
Arbitration	Where conciliation does not settle the matter, arbitration follows. The commissioner hears evidence, makes findings, and issues a binding arbitration award.
Review	Arbitration awards can be applied for review at the Labour Court on limited grounds, typically within six weeks of the award date.
Enforcement	Awards are filed with the Labour Court to render them executable; thereafter, enforcement follows the ordinary Sheriff route.

Common Online-Referral Mistakes to Avoid

• Filing without checking the statutory deadline first. If you are outside the 30-day unfair-dismissal window without an approved condonation application, the referral will be dismissed as out of time.
• Uploading documents in the wrong format. The portal typically accepts PDF only; photographs of documents may be rejected or illegible.
• Omitting the date of dismissal or the date of the act complained of. The form rejects incomplete submissions rather than warning you — and a rejected submission loses the benefit of the original filing date.
• Naming the wrong respondent. Referring against the wrong employer entity (the holding company rather than the actual employer of record) can see the matter resolved on a technicality at the hearing.
• Failing to specify the relief sought with enough precision. Vague relief (e.g. “compensation”) makes the eventual arbitration award harder to enforce.

When It Makes Sense to Have an Attorney Open the Case for You

Many employees navigate the portal themselves without difficulty. An attorney becomes genuinely useful where the legal framing is contested or the stakes are high:

• The dispute is a constructive dismissal or an automatically unfair dismissal where the burden of proof falls differently on the employer.
• The dismissal involved discrimination (race, gender, disability, etc.) — these disputes interact with the Employment Equity Act and require more careful framing of the referral.
• The employer is represented by an attorney or is contesting the matter aggressively.
• The relief sought includes substantial compensation and the employee wants to maximise the chance of a favourable award.
• The case is one of a series of related referrals, or involves multiple employees.
• The 30-day deadline has already expired and a condonation application has to be drafted and motivated.

Burger Huyser Attorneys’ Labour Law practice, led by specialist consultant Marius Ferreira, handles precisely this kind of CCMA work across the firm’s Gauteng branches — opening referrals on a client’s behalf, drafting condonation applications where the deadline has slipped, and representing employees and employers at conciliation and arbitration.

Filing From Anywhere in South Africa — Where the Case Gets Heard

Because the CCMA is a single national body, the online route is the same regardless of where in South Africa the employee or employer sits. The portal at refer.ccma.org.za takes the referral; the matter is then allocated to whichever CCMA regional office covers the area where the employer is based. Within Gauteng, the CCMA’s provincial footprint includes offices serving Johannesburg, Pretoria, and outlying areas — so a Centurion-based employee referring against a Pretoria employer will normally have the matter allocated to the Pretoria CCMA, while a Bedfordview employee referring against a Johannesburg employer will be dealt with by the Johannesburg office.

After the case is opened, conciliation hearings are scheduled at the allocated regional office (or via the CCMA’s online-hearing platform where the matter is eligible and the parties agree). The Burger Huyser Linden head office (49 First Avenue, Linden, Randburg, 011 888 0246) coordinates the firm’s CCMA work; clients who prefer an in-person intake can be seen at Sandton (011 253 3080), Pretoria/Menlyn (012 471 5700), Centurion (012 644 4990), Roodepoort (011 668 0030), Bedfordview (011 201 7190), Alberton (011 439 3990), or Midrand (010 022 4082). Where the online portal is the right route, an employee can also instruct the firm to file the referral on their behalf rather than navigate the form personally.

If you’d rather not navigate the CCMA portal yourself — particularly if you’re outside the 30-day unfair-dismissal window, your employer is contesting the matter hard, or your case involves discrimination or constructive dismissal — Burger Huyser Attorneys’ Labour Law team can open the CCMA case on your behalf, prepare any condonation application, and represent you at conciliation and arbitration. The firm operates out of its Linden/Randburg head office (49 First Avenue, 011 888 0246) with branches across Gauteng including Sandton (011 253 3080), Pretoria/Menlyn (012 471 5700), Centurion (012 644 4990), Roodepoort (011 668 0030), Bedfordview (011 201 7190), Alberton (011 439 3990), and Midrand (010 022 4082). Speak to the labour-law practice before you file so the referral is framed correctly the first time.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have to open a CCMA case after being dismissed?

For unfair dismissal, you have 30 calendar days from the date of dismissal to file the referral under section 191 of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995. If you are outside that 30-day window, you can still file a condonation application asking the CCMA for permission to refer out of time, but condonation requires a good cause explanation and is not automatic — this is one of the most common time-sensitive CCMA mistakes.

Can I file the referral myself, or do I need an attorney?

You can file the referral yourself at refer.ccma.org.za — the portal is designed to be navigable without legal representation, and most individual unfair-dismissal referrals are no-fee for individuals. Many employees do, however, instruct an attorney to draft the condonation application, frame the dispute under the right LRA section, or represent them at the hearing itself.

Will the CCMA hear both parties on the same day?

Conciliation typically happens at the first scheduled sitting, though not every dispute resolves on the day — conciliation can run over several hours and may include a quick without-prejudice settlement discussion, after which the commissioner either issues a settlement agreement or a certificate of non-resolution. Arbitration, where conciliation fails, is scheduled separately for a later date.

What happens if my employer doesn’t attend the conciliation?

If the employer (properly served through the CCMA) fails to attend conciliation without good cause, the commissioner may issue a certificate of non-resolution and the matter proceeds directly to arbitration. If arbitration is also unattended, the commissioner can issue a default arbitration award against the absent party.

How long does a CCMA unfair-dismissal arbitration take to finalise?

The LRA targets issuing an arbitration award within 60 days after the arbitration concludes, but in practice timelines depend on regional backlogs, complexity, and evidentiary volume. Simple unfair-dismissal arbitrations may resolve within a few months of referral; complex disputes with multiple witnesses or preliminary issues take longer.

Can I get a copy of my CCMA file and status online?

Yes — once a case number has been assigned, parties can use the CCMA’s online portal to track the status of the matter, view the date and venue of scheduled hearings, download issued documents (the certificate of non-resolution, the arbitration award when issued), and check compliance with procedural directions.