About ClearLine
Most employers pay a monthly retainer for a labour consultant or attorney they rarely call, and then wait days for an answer when they finally need one. By then the decision has often been made.
ClearLine puts labour law guidance in your hands at the moment you need it: before the disciplinary hearing, before the notice is issued, before the dismissal. Clear steps, correct procedure, and documents you can use the same day, at a fraction of what a retainer costs.
We built ClearLine around the questions employers ask every week. What do I need before I start a disciplinary process? Is this warning valid? What must be in this notice? You get a straight answer, not an invoice in six-minute units.
ClearLine is not a law firm, and we say so plainly. For a matter that is genuinely litigation-ready, we refer you to our panel of attorneys who specialise in labour law. You arrive with the file in order and the procedure already followed correctly, which saves time and cost on the attorney’s side too.
How it works
Every query starts with Naledi, our online legal advisor. Most end there. What does not goes to a legal advisor, and what needs an attorney goes to the panel.
Routine, settled questions get an immediate answer from Naledi, ClearLine's online legal advisor, trained and expert in South African labour law, available any time with no waiting for a callback.
Anything outside Naledi's defined scope is routed straight to a senior legal advisor on our team, who responds personally rather than having it guessed at.
If a matter is, in substance, Labour Court litigation or otherwise requires an attorney, it is referred to our attorney panel under a separate mandate you enter directly with that firm.
Panel and ethics
Matters that are, in substance, ready for the Labour Court are referred to attorneys focused on labour law and Labour Court practice. You deal with that firm directly, under its own mandate and fee agreement; we do not charge for legal representation and are not a party to that mandate.
The biggest cost of escalating a matter is usually re-explaining it. With membership, your history already sits in your portal, so once you authorise a referral the attorney gets straight to the substance instead of reconstructing the file. Nothing is shared before you say so; the authorisation is yours to give, matter by matter.
Panel attorneys charge members at discounted rates agreed with ClearLine. To join the panel, a firm agrees to charge in line with our panel fee guideline, so you know what to expect before a matter is referred. Your discount grows with your membership: 10% after 6 months of continuous membership, 20% after 12 months, and up to 30% after 24 months. We take no share of any attorney's fees.
The member portal only opens for people signed in with a real account tied to their own company, and each company's records are enforced at the database level, not just hidden in the interface. Data in transit and at rest is encrypted by our hosting providers, and nothing about a member's file moves to a panel attorney without that member's own authorisation, matter by matter.