Labour: Popia argument dismissed by CCMA

Attempts by the Rail Safety Regulator (RSR) to hide behind the Protection of Personal Information Act (Popia) in a labour dispute have failed. The Star reports the RSR objected to the inclusion of two confidential documents in the evidence bundle of Koliswa Sheburi, an employee taking it to the CCMA for alleged unfair labour practice. Sheburi said that the RSR subjected her to an unfair labour practice by refusing to adjust her salary notch and cost of living increment. The state entity wanted the CCMA to order Sheburi, a legal adviser, to remove the two contested documents from her bundle on the grounds that their inclusion contravened Popia. These documents were offers of employment made to two employees. They disclosed the salary levels linked to job profiles. The regulator’s lawyer argued before commissioner Gerhard Jansen van Vuuren that Popia barred the processing of personal information. Jansen van Vuuren further heard that Sheburi did not have proof that her two colleagues in question consented to the use of their personal information. However, Sheburi’s lawyer submitted that the colleagues in question supplied the documents voluntarily. Jansen van Vuuren ruled: ‘The respondent’s application for an order in terms of which the applicant is compelled to remove two confidential offers of employment from her bundle of documents is dismissed.’