Do I have to pay anything Legal Fee upfront?
No. We work on No Win Fee Basis.
How do you settle cases?
A. All clients sign a Power of Attorney when they come on board.
B. Central to the Power of Attorney is the authorization for us to settle cases on behalf of clients.
C. Clients who are not will to handover such investiture do request for variation.
D. We consult and advise clients on settlement offers at hand as a matter of course.
E. We negotiate settlements for over a thousand cases in any month.
F. Occasional exceptions happen in circumstances including the following:
- Where a settlement is made on “the steps of the court” i.e shortly before a hearing.
- In light of the client’s case merits, the offer is superior to CCMA outcomes.
- Where a client is not in reachable.
Which Fee is applicable?
a. We charge Mandate Fee and not Contingency fee.
b. Mandate Fee is used in many industries including Financial, mergers and acquisition, real estate industries.
c. In South Africa the Contingency Fee Act is meant
"To provide for contingency fees agreements between legal practitioners and their clients; and to provide for matters connected therewith". Refer to the Act https://bit.ly/3jM2hM8.
d. Clearly, we are not legal practitioners thus it does not apply to us.
e. The Act states that "the total of any such success fee payable by the client to the legal practitioner, shall not exceed 25 per cent of the total amount awarded".
f. The Act allows for disbursements. In practice, attorneys do bill for such.
g. The final percentage is typically in the north of 35%, hence the notion that a client may only expect to be charged a capped rate at 25% is a misinformed.
h. A fixed 33% allows for for certainity.
i. The rate is fixed irrespective of the outcome.
j. I the event of a no win outcome you wil owe us nothing.
How are settlements proceeds procesed?
A. If a case is settled at CCMA or the Labour Court the payment is effected into the client's account.
B. The client then will be issued with an invoice.
C. If a case is settled directly with the employer, Payment if effected into a nominated account.
D. Clients are paid their dues a matter of course.
E. Delays in payments may arise primarily due to the following:
-Employers failure to append references to payments.
-Employers failure to submit the required tax directive.
-Employers failure to account for deductions.
- Employer’s failure to provide us with payment notification documentation.
F. In all the above situations, we cannot allocate payments.
G. We engage with employers for outstanding documentation.
H. Payment would then be made promptly and the case closed.
What is the profile of your employees that handle settlements?
A. We employ a hybrid of individuals from educational different backgrounds and life experiences including those that are legally trained. The focus is on personal attributes that position one to be able to resonate with both employers and clients in seeking to find consensus between the parties. We train them on relevant aspects including Psychology, Sociology, Employment Law, Financial aspects of business management, Emotional Intelligence, Negotiating skills, and Deal closing skills.
B. "In May of 2013, an “LLB Summit” was held, which was attended by all stakeholders who had a direct interest in the legal profession and in legal education. At this summit, serious concern was voiced about the perception that the quality of law graduates was
generally poor, and that they were ill-equipped to practise law in a professional environment." Refer to this link https://bit.ly/3kT1Gtv for the CHE LLB Report.
C. Amongst others, the report recommended that before embarking on LLB studies, students must first conclude degree in commerce, humanities et al. "The introduction (or, in many cases, retention) of the option for students to graduate with a first Bachelor’s degree (typically in arts/humanities or commerce, with some law modules included) and thereafter to register for a second Bachelor’s degree in law (LLB) that can be completed in a minimum period of two years."
D. Where we employ individuals with LLB and LLM background, we train them on aspects outlined in part A above.
E. In Arbitration and Labour court cases we outsource legal practitioners where applicable.
F. Our high success rate is settling cases at different fora including Employer negotiations, CCMA, Bargaining Councils, Labour Court, ADR platforms et-al vindicates our approach.
CCMA Legal Representation
A. We settle between 70 and 90% of our cases at CCMA Conciliation stage.
B. 10% proceed to Arbitration or the Labour Court.
C. Rule no 25 of the CCMA does not allow for Legal representation at Conciliation. Refer to the CCMA rules https://www.gov.za/st/node/785195.
D. We along with all attorneys are not allowed to attend CCMA Conciliations.
E. With respect arbitrations, we outsource Legal representatives where the CCMA rules allows.
G. With respect to the Labour court cases, we provide outsourced Legal representation at no cost subject to the Mandate fee agreement.
Solution
1. To obviate the representation limitation, we prepare clients by providing Legal Briefs and coach them in real-time via WhatsApp.
2. This allows for interactive and real-time assistance.
3. Clients are allowed to step out of the meeting room and consult.
4. Our Team is always on standby to advise and coach accordingly.
Is Employment Law Experts a law firm?
A. We are not a law firm.
B. We are a Labour Law Consultancy. South Africa has thousands of such companies.
C. SA Laws do not require one to be an attorney for purposes of resolving labour disputes. This is consistent with the jurisprudence of more than a hundred countries. Refer to ILO National labour law profiles. https://bit.ly/34PZPQl.
D. We accordingly employ individuals from different backgrounds and train them on different skills and applicable Employment law aspects.
E. We run on business management principles and seek to offer the highest client services possible.
Is Employment Law Experts part of the CCMA?
Is Employment Law Experts part of the CCMA?
A. We are not a part of the CCMA.
B. The CCMA is an independent public CCMA tribunal.
C. The services of the CCMA are Free.
D. Herewith a link for the CCMA web site: https://www.ccma.org.za.
E. We refer cases to the CCMA on behalf of our clients and prepare them for appearance.
File Management
1. Every client has a dedicated file opened for them.
2. The creation and maintenance of a client's file cost R150.00.
3. The payment is non refundable.
4. The amount must be paid within 5 days of the opening of the file.
5. Clients may make arrangements for the payment.
