Labour exemptions briefing sessions with employers and employer organisations on the NMW heads to Northern Cape
The Northern Cape Province will this week play host when the Department of Labour convenes two workshops as part of a national series of briefing sessions aimed at employers and employer organisations in order to educate them on the National Minimum Wage (NMW) exemption process.
The first workshop will be held on Thursday (05 April) at Namakhoi Municipality Skou Hall, Aiport Way in Springbok, and will be followed by another briefing session on 06 April at Dawid Kruiper Municipality Tol Speelman Community Hall at corner Keimoesweg and Clarkiaweg Progress in Upington.
The NMW Bill makes provision for an employer or an employers’ organisation to apply for an exemption in the prescribed form and manner from paying the national minimum wage.
The Department of Labour is in the process of introducing new regulations to guide the exemption process.
The national series of employers and employer organisations started in Gauteng on 19 March in Johannesburg and on 20 March in Pretoria. The Department of Labour plans to host 17 briefings sessions nationally. The employers and employer organisations briefing sessions follows on the heels of those held for trade unions and shop stewards on the implementation of the national minimum wage and amendments to labour laws. The 20 briefing session were held nationally from November 2017 until February 2018.
The National Minimum Wage Bill prescribes a national minimum wage of R20 per hour with the exception of sectors such as the farm/forestry, domestic and expanded public works programme workers, that have been given a longer transition period to pay R18, R15 and R11 per hour respectively.
The Department of Labour’s exemptions information technology (IT) system is expected to come online by the end of the month.
More briefing sessions are planned to be held in the Eastern Cape (09 April in East London; 10 April in Port Elizabeth); Mpumalanga (12 April in Nelspruit; 13 April in Piet Retief); Limpopo (16 April in Tzaneen; 17 Polokwane in Polokwane); and Free State (19 April in Bloemfontein, 20 April in Bethlehem).
The briefing sessions start from 10:00am-13:00pm.
Enquiries:
Teboho Thejane
Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 082 697 0694
