The Department of Employment and Labour published the Employment Equity Amendment Bill, 2020 on 20 July 2020.
The Bill has 4 main aims:
- Empowering the Minister of Labour to set numerical targets for representation of black people, women and disabled employees within the different levels of employment in the workplace.
- Improvement of administration.
- Enabling testing to be done without certification of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).
- Enabling voluntary compliance of non-designated employers without notification to the Director-General of the Department of Labour.
The most significant impact of this amendment bill are the numerical target setting within different levels in the workplace.
This means that larger employers who viewed as “designated employers” may soon find that the Minister of Labour sets numerical targets with a minimum number of black people, women and disabled employees should be employed at each level within the business.
Compliance with set targets may thereafter be tested based on each of the levels within the organisation rather than in the organisation as a whole.
Although no numerical targets have been set as yet it is something that employers should be aware of going forward.
When numerical targets have been set these will need to be addressed as part of an employment equity plan.
To download a copy of the Employment Equity Amendment Bill click here.