In the event of the occurrence of individual disputes between a worker and his employer, the aggrieved party has to first of all follow the internal grievance procedure with a view to settle the matter amicably. If the grievance procedure has failed or is nonexistent, then as per section 139 (1) of the labour code of Cameroon of 1992, the aggrieved party will request the competent labour inspector to settle it out of court.
Conciliation by the Labour Inspector
Conciliation is the out of court dispute settlement method by the labour inspector. This is the most used method especially in cases of wrongful termination of a contract of employment or non-payment of salaries. This entails the labour inspector calling on both parties before him to find common grounds of resolving their differences.the labour inspector will usually send a summon to the interested parties to appear before his office so that he can hear each person’s case and find a means to resolve the differences at his level amicably.
The conclusion of this meeting usually leads to the following results;
- Total Conciliation: This is said to have been achieved when the labour inspector has succeeded in amicably solving the dispute between the parties. The labour inspector will then draw up a statement of conciliation and transmit to the competent court.
- Partial Conciliation: This is the case in which parties are on agreement on only part of the issue in dispute. So the labour inspector will draft a statement of partial conciliation to the competent court stating the points on which agreement has been reached and those on which disagreement still persists.
- Non-Conciliation: This is said to arise where the labour inspector has not succeeded to settling the problem either totally or partially. As the parties remain in absolute disagreement over the issues between them. the labour inspector will draft a statement of non-conciliation and file to the competent court.