- Five senior secretaries have won an arbitration against the Department of Justice.
- The ruling found that benchmarking did not replace their formal job evaluation at salary level 7.
- The department must implement the promotions immediately and pay all back pay by 31 August 2026.
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development must promote five senior secretaries to salary Level 8 after an arbitrator found they were wrongly denied automatic grade progression under Resolution 3 of 2009.
The dispute was brought by the Public Servants Association for five legal secretaries at the Office of the State Attorney in Johannesburg. The employees argued their posts were formally upgraded to salary Level 7 after a job evaluation in 2006 and that they had completed 15 years of continuous service with satisfactory performance ratings, making them eligible for progression from 1 April 2021.
The Department of Justice, supported by the Department of Public Service and Administration, opposed the claim. The departments said a 2006 benchmarking exercise had effectively placed the employees on salary Level 5, even though they continued to receive Level 7 pay, and that moving them to Level 8 would be an impermissible jump in salary.
Benchmarking was not enough
Arbitrator Marion Fouche rejected that argument, finding the departments had wrongly relied on benchmarking to deny the employees their progression rights. Arbitrator Fouche said “benchmarking and job grading are distinct tools in the workplace,” and that the benchmarking exercise could not replace a formal job evaluation.
The arbitrator found no evidence that the Department of Justice had changed the employees’ job descriptions or completed the formal regrading required to alter their post level. Simply telling the employees they were considered Level 5 was not enough to overturn their formally evaluated Level 7 posts.
Fouche also dismissed the department’s claim that the employees held “personal level” positions, finding there was no documentary evidence to support that.
Promotions and backpay
Having found the applicants remained on salary level 7, Fouche ruled they “qualify to grade progress to level 8 with effect from 1 April 2021.”
The Department of Justice was ordered to preserve the original job evaluation, immediately amend the employees’ personnel records, and promote all five secretaries to salary Level 8, effective from 1 April 2021.
The department must also pay each employee the first notch of Level 8, including all applicable increases and retrospective backpay from April 2021.
The award directs that all outstanding backpay be paid no later than 31 August 2026; any disputes over the amount may be referred back for quantification.
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