Employment equity law will permit employers to raise justifiable grounds for non-compliance - Department of Employment and Labour
The proposed amendments to the employment equity (EE) will provide a double-pronged flexibility in that they will allow employers to consult & self-regulate their equity targets, while also allowing employers to raise justifiable reasons for non-compliance with the law.
Department of Employment and Labour Deputy Director of EE, Masilo Lefika said: “we are giving you the law and, at the same time giving you a weapon to defend yourselves.”
According to the amended EE legislation and Regulations some of the justifiable reasons/grounds listed to be considered for failure to comply with the annual EE targets include: insufficient promotion opportunities; insufficient recruitment opportunities; insufficient target individuals from the designated groups with the relevant qualifications, skills and experience; CCMA/Court Order; transfer of business; merger/ acquisitions; and impact on business economic circumstances such as- impact of COVID pandemic on business, load-shedding, etc.
Lefika was speaking today to stakeholders at Kopano Nokeng Conference Centre in Bloemfontein during the joint Departmental and CCMA 2023 Employment Equity national workshop.
The workshop was discussing the Employment Equity Amendments signed into law by President Ramaphosa in April 2023. The Employment Equity national workshop is held under the theme: “Real transformation makes business sense”.
The objective of the amendments is: to reduce the regulatory burden for small employers; to empower the Minister to regulate the sector specific numerical EE targets; to promulgate Section 53; and to strengthen compliance, including the issuing of EE compliance certificates.
The justifiable reasons for non-compliance with the law were not thumb-sucked, Lefika said these are an outcome of NEDLAC deliberations as agreed by all social partners.
Ntsoaki Mamashela Director for EE in the Department of Employment and Labour appealed for every South African to be given an opportunity to contribute to economic growth and development, so as to not condemn people to social security dependency.
Mamashela lamented the snail pace of transformation, especially that of people with disability. Mamashela said empowerment of people with disability first starts with self-disclosure. She encouraged people with disability to not shy away with disclosing their status, so as to have scientific statistics in place and allow for proper monitoring.
“Employment equity works on opportunity and natural attrition. There is no specific formula to transformation. The ideal vehicle to use in transformation is the economically active population (EAP) statistics,” she said.
The objective of the 2023 workshops: is to create awareness on the recently promulgated EE amendments, sector targets and regulations; reflect on EE impact in labour market; demonstration of online EE system to incorporate the amendments and generate certificates of compliance; presentation of the CCMA’s case law on EE; reporting on EE and the Commission for Employment Equity (CEE) Annual Report launch outcomes.
The national series workshops/roadshows started on 18 July 2023 in Thohoyandou and will end on 13 September 2023 in Cape Town.
The remaining EE workshops will be held as follows:
Eastern Cape
- Mthatha (24 August 2023) – Mayfair Hotel - 35 Errol Spring Avenue Mthatha
- East London (25 August 2023) - Hotel Osner, Court Crescent, Esplanade
KwaZulu-Natal
- Durban (30 August 2023) - Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani, 63 Snell Parade, North Beach
Western Cape
- Cape Town (13 September 2023) – Lagoon Beach Hotel & Spa, 1 Lagoon Gate Drive, Lagoon Beach
The EE workshops are targeted at Employers or Heads of organisations, Academics, Assigned Senior Managers, Consultative forum members, Human Resource Practitioners, Trade Unions, employees and other interested stakeholders.
The national workshops are held from 10:00am to 14:00pm and members of the media are invited.
Media enquiries:
Teboho Thejane
Cell: 082 697 0694
E-mail: Teboho.Thejane@labour.gov.za
