12 November 2007
The Labour Department has taken Comair Limited to court for breaching
provisions of the Employment Equity Act. Labour Director-General Vanguard
Mkosana filed the application with the Johannesburg Labour Court after several
warnings against the airline company, which has since been given until Tuesday,
20 November to respond.
According to the application, Comair has been found to be in breach of the
following provisions of the Employment Equity Act:
* Section 20 of Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, by failing to prepare and
implement an Employment Equity Plan which would achieve reasonable progress
towards employment equity in the respondent's workplace between the periods
2000 to September 2007.
* Section 21 (2) (3) (4) and (5), by submitting reports to the first applicant
which were not based on any existing Employment Equity Plan of the respondent
and/or submitting falsified reports.
* Section 21 (3) of Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, by failing to submit a
report to the Director-General on the first working day of October 2007.
* Section 24 of Employment Equity Act in that it failed to assign one or more
senior managers to take responsibility for monitoring and implementing an
Employment Equity Plan from 2000 to 26 March 2007.
* Section 26 of Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, by failing to keep records in
respect of its workforce, its Employment Equity Plan and other records relevant
for purposes of compliance with the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998.
In the application, Dr Mkosana further ordered the respondent to comply with
the provisions of section 20, 21, 23, 25 and 26 of Employment Equity Act 55 of
1998. Comair is being ordered to pay a fine of R900 000 as prescribed by
schedule 1 of Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 and to pay the costs of the
application.
The company is required to file notice of intention to oppose and an
answering affidavit within 10 days from the date the application was served. If
no intention to oppose and an answering affidavit were filed as required in the
notice of motion, the application might be heard in the respondent's absence
and an order for costs might be sought against the respondent.
Enquiries:
Zolisa Sigabi
Cell: 082 906 3878
E-mail: zolisa.sigabi@labour.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Labour
12 November 2007
Source: Department of Labour (http://www.labour.gov.za)
