Unfair dismissal

On the 24th of July, we signed a contract with Hyundai Automotive a five month contract that was supposed to end on the 31st of December for the automotive sales program. After signing the contract, we attended training. The training lasted for three weeks, and we were paid for that period.

However, when the time came for us to go to our allocated dealerships, we were told that the program had been paused. The general manager even said he was not aware of the program. This confused us because they were the ones who hired the johannesburg facilitators to come to Cape Town to train us. They were also the ones booking hotels, cars, and flights for those facilitators but suddenly they claimed to know nothing about the program.

After that, they dismissed us unfairly without any written notice or a signed termination document. So we decided to take the matter to the CCMA. Our lawyers requested a settlement covering the remaining four months of our contract, but they said they did not have the money.

We also personally went to N1 City to ask about the program, and they told us that the issue was not financial. They said management was divided some wanted the program, some didn’t and once they sorted that out, we could return to work. We accepted that explanation, but after that, they stopped communicating with us completely until we involved a lawyer.

Once the matter reached the CCMA, the company offered a settlement of R3,000. We rejected it because our contract stated we were supposed to earn R6,000 per month. We then requested R12,000, but they said they didn’t have the money. Eventually, we agreed to accept a settlement of R6,000.

They asked us to send proof of our bank details, which we did. Our lawyer also sent the necessary documents and judgments to them. They then told us to expect payment on the 25th of this month . Everything seemed fine at that point.

Today is the 27th, and we still have not received the payment. They are now telling us we must wait another 10 days. It’s clear they are playing mind games with us because, after we took the matter to the CCMA, they suddenly announced that they would be conducting new interviews for the same 10 positions. This was shocking, especially because they never communicated with us until we got legal representation. Before that, we would email them repeatedly, and they would never respond.