Proposed amendments to the Employment Equity Act

The Employment Equity Amendment Bill was introduced in the National Assembly last week and was published in Government Gazette (No. 43535) on the 20 July 2020. The preamble to the Bill reads:

‘To amend the Employment Equity Act,1998, so as to...provide for the Minister to identify sectorial numerical targets in order to ensure the equitable representation of suitably qualified people from (the) designated groups and to provide for matters connected herewith.’

The Department of Employment and Labour has as its objective, the amendments to significant provisions of the Employment Equity Act.

Of singularly significant importance is the fact that, in terms of the proposed amendments, and after due consultation, the Minister will be empowered to determine numerical targets for specific sectors. Put differently, the Minister will be empowered to introduce quotas at the workplace in respect of specific sectors. Employers will therefore no longer be able to set their own targets in their employment equity plans, as they have done for many years.

Other important proposed amendments

Employers who employ less than 50 employees are no longer designated employers for purposes of the EE Act, irrespective of their turnover, and are thus exempt from the obligations as contemplated in the Act.

Employers who wish to tender for state contracts will only be able to do so if the Minister has issued a certificate of compliance, such certificate is issued only if:

• The employer has raised reasonable grounds to justify its failure to comply in respect of any target which the employer has not complied

• The employer has submitted a report in terms of section 21 of the EE Act

• There has been, within the previous three-year period, no finding by the CCMA or the Labour Court, that the employer breached the prohibition on unfair discrimination, and;

• The CCMA has not issued an award against the employer, in the previous three years, for failing to pay the minimum wage in terms of the National Minimum Wage Act

Stay safe, stay healthy, and remain optimistic. We will get through this, together!

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Note: This article was originally published on 28 July 2020.

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