There can be little doubt that the Financial Sector Tribunal has made a huge difference in the industry as far as bringing legal certainty in an environment where the small guys and girls often had to face the wrath of employers, regulators and dispute resolution forums alone.
As the Tribunal is an institution operating in a legal capacity, there are certain ground rules for approaching it to request a reconsideration of a decision. These guidelines have just been updated.
Applications for reconsideration of decisions
1. The right to apply to the Tribunal for a reconsideration of a decision by a decision-maker is derived from section 230 of the Act and, if subject to the provisions of other financial sector laws (such as the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act 37 of 2002), will derive from those laws.
2. Only a person who is “aggrieved” by a “decision” of a “decision-maker” may apply to the Tribunal for a reconsideration of the decision. The first term has specific legal meaning, and the last two terms are defined in section 218 of the Act.
3. An application for reconsideration must be made:
- if the applicant requested reasons in terms of section 229 of the Act, within 30 days after the statement of reasons was given to the applicant; or
- in all other cases, within 60 days after the applicant was notified of the decision, or such longer period as may on good cause be allowed.
4. An application for reconsideration must contain the:
- decision letter; and
- statement of reasons, referred to in section 229 of the Act, and any other information including annexures provided to the applicant by the decision-maker.
5. The application for reconsideration must contain the full particulars of the grounds (stated succinctly) on which the application is based and, if necessary, must deal with the aspect of condonation should the application be filed out of time (refer to section 230(2)(b) of the Act).
6. An application for reconsideration, to be valid, must cite all other parties to the decision and be lodged with the secretariat AND all the other parties to the decision.
7. The application for reconsideration must be drafted to conform as far as possible with either the standard Form A or B attached. Form A must be used if the relevant decision-maker’s decision is in favour of another party; and Form B must be used if the decision does not affect another party but only the applicant.
The forms referred to above are contained in the Financial Services Tribunal Consolidated Rules. We suggest you download and keep a copy for future reference.
