Government departments are largely tardy when it comes to adhering to arbitration awards that the Labour Courts issue against them in disputes with employees‚ according to a new study from the Public Service Commission.

Public Service Commissioner Moira Marais-Martin said during a briefing in Pretoria on Thursday that while non-implementation was “not on a huge scale” there was an increase in litigation costs for successful applicants.

Marais-Martin said government departments often displayed “an unhealthy level of hostility” towards aggrieved employees‚ despite the fact that employees have the right to resist unfair labour practices.

The PSC report said government departments incurred arbitration awards to the value of R166m between 2013 and 2016 and R94m in compensation costs. However‚ she said‚ many departments did not comply with arbitration orders‚ which drove costs even higher.

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“If there is non-implementation‚ then interest is incurred on the awards that have been issued against them. Once the PSC completed the study we found that some departments could spend as much as R1.8m on interest for delaying to pay the amounts due‚” Marais-Martin said.

The PSC recommends‚ among other things‚ that government departments develop an “overarching policy framework to assist where awards are allocated” so that they do not contravene any of the prescripts of labour law.

“No one is held accountable for the financial losses incurred by affected departments as a result of non-implementation. Accounting officers must ensure that employees and bar councils are supplied with legal documentation in every labour matter‚” Marais-Martin said.

She said the report would be sent to the Department of Public Service and Administration for further consultation and discussion.