Anyone recruiting and placing work seekers into employment is required by law to register with the Department of Labour
The new draft regulations on the registration of Private Employment Agencies and Temporary Employment Services requires all labour brokers to register themselves with the Department of Labour before getting into the business of placing work seekers in the job market, the hearing was told today.
This was a message delivered by the Department of Labour, Private Employment Agencies Director, Martin Ratshivhanda in the North West province, Protea Hotel Marriott, where Public hearings on the published regulations in terms of the Employment Services Act no: 4 of 2014 are currently taking place.
Ratshivhanda says when it comes to the registration of work seekers, the regulation not only provide for the registration, but also for conditions under which their details shall be removed from the database in order to make it more valid and reliable.
He says the regulations introduce a compulsory registration and certification system which enables the pre-screening of the applicants, and helps to create transparency by identifying those participating in the market and their overall activities or types of services provided.
Ratshivhanda says the registrar will issue the applicant with a registration certificate within 60 days of receipt of the application provided that necessary requirements are met.
These include amongst others that the agency comply with all the labour laws, has a verifiable physical business address where the applicant will operate from, proof that the agency is registered with the CIPC, proof of tax clearance certificate, proof that the agency is registered with a bargaining council where applicable, proof of payment of application fee and/late renewal fee, certified copies of identity documents of the owner, partners or shareholders of the entity.
He says in a case where the registration is declined, the registrar will furnish the applicant with a letter containing reasons for its refusal of registration or inform the applicant in the letter issued that it has 30 days from the date of the letter to meet the requirements.
Ratshivhanda says the registration or renewal of registration of a private employment agency or temporary employment service, is subject to the applicant paying a non-refundable application fee to the department.
Ratshivhanda emphasised to stakeholders that under the proposed regulations, a registered private employment service or temporary employment service may not register for employment any non-citizens unless the non-citizen has been issued with a RSA identity document for permanent residence or granted asylum by the Department of Home Affairs.
He cautioned stakeholders that under no circumstances can the labour brokers charge any fee to work seekers for providing work services other than the fees specified in the government gazette for specified categories of employees or for the provision of specialised services.
The hearings which commenced yesterday (25 February 2019) in Gauteng Province has entered its second day today. Other hearings are running concurrently in the Western Cape and Kwazulu-Natal.
Tomorrow (27 February 2019) the hearings will be heading to Eastern Cape, Premier Hotel Regent in East London; Mpumalanga Province (venue to be confirmed), and Northern Cape Province Horseshoe in Kimberly.
The department is holding public hearings to receive inputs on the four Draft Employment Services Regulations; advocate on the draft regulations and provide clarity where needed.
The public hearings are targeting stakeholders such as Nedlac constituencies, Government departments, municipalities, State-owned enterprises, employers, private employment agencies, temporary employment services and work seekers.
The closing date for public comments on the four regulations is 28 February 2019 and can be forwarded to privateeaservices@labour.gov.za; publicaregistration@labour.gov.za; foreignemployeeregulations@labour.gov.za; and workseekerregistration@labour.gov.za.
These draft regulations are also obtainable on the Department of Labour’s website www.labour.gov.za.
The public hearings are held from 09:00am to 13:00. Media is invited to the hearings.
For more information on PES public hearing contact:
Martin Ratshivhanda
Department of Labour PES Director: Employment Services Board Secretariat & Private Employment Agencies
079 235 2799
Ernest Masemola
Cell: 082 566 6565
Ms Mmathule Masilela
Employment Services Board Secretariat
Cell: 082 521 6328
