The President has signed into law the Employment Equity Amendment Bill, 2020. This means that the proposed amendments to the Employment Equity Act will come into force on a date still to be determined.
The amendments introduce various amendments to the affirmative action provisions of the Employment Equity Act which aim to achieve faster transformation in the workplace of designated employers.
The most significant of the amendments relate to the Minister of Employment and Labour’s power to set sector-specific employment equity targets against which designated employers will be held to account.
The amendments empower the Minister to determine numerical targets for national economic sectors identified by the Minister. The sectoral targets may differentiate between occupational levels, sub-sectors, regions, or any other relevant factor. Before determining the targets, the Minister is required to consult relevant stakeholders and the Employment Equity Commission on the proposed sectors and sectoral targets and to publish any proposals for public comment. It is anticipated that the sector-specific targets will be soon be published for public comment.
A second significant amendment is the requirement to obtain certificates of compliance. In order to “incentivise” employers to meet targets, certificates of compliance will now be issued by the Minister if:
- the employer has complied with any applicable sectoral targets or has raised a reasonable ground for non-compliance;
- the employer has submitted its most recent employment equity report; and
- within the previous 12 months, the employer has not been found to have breached the prohibition on unfair discrimination, or paid wages below the level of the minimum wage.
Entities that contract with the State may only do so if they have been certified as being compliant with their obligations under the Act. A failure to comply with these requirements is a sufficient ground for the cancellation of any state contract (should no reasonable ground exist to justify such non-compliance).
Lastly, the definition of a designated employer has been amended. The definition has been amended by the deletion of the paragraph which classifies employers with fewer than 50 employees, but who meet the required turnover threshold, as “designated employers.” Consequently, employers who employ fewer than 50 employees, irrespective of their turnover, will no longer fall within the definition of a “designated employer” and will therefore no longer be required to comply with the employment equity requirements in the Act.
