EMPLOYMENT EQUITY AMENDMENT ACT: DEPARTMENT HINTS AT ‘JUSTIFIABLE REASONS’ FOR NON-COMPLIANCE

EMPLOYMENT EQUITY AMENDMENT ACT: DEPARTMENT HINTS AT ‘JUSTIFIABLE REASONS’ FOR NON-COMPLIANCE

• 23 August 2023
• Labour Law
• SA Legal Academy

Once operationalised, the amended Employment Equity Act will give employers the flexibility to:

• ‘consult and self-regulate their equity targets’, and
• ‘raise justifiable reasons for non-compliance’.

This is according to a Department of Employment & Labour media statement in which Deputy Director for employment equity, Masilo Lefika, is quoted as having said, ‘We are giving you the law and, at the same time giving you a weapon to defend yourselves’. He made these remarks during an employment equity workshop at the Kopano Nokeng conference centre, Bloemfontein.

Draft regulations giving practical effect to the Employment Equity Amendment Act, 2022, were released in June for public comment, as SA Legal Academy reported at the time. They have yet to be finalised.

The media statement nevertheless lists several grounds on which non-compliance is likely to be deemed justifiable – as apparently agreed by government and its social partners in the National Economic Development & Labour Council. They include:

• insufficient promotion and recruitment opportunities
• inadequate numbers of suitably qualified, skilled and experienced individuals available from designated target groups
• a change in business ownership
• the impact of an external event such as a state of disaster, and
• a Commission for Conciliation, Mediation & Arbitration directive or court order.

Please click the links below for more information:

• media statement
• amendment Act
• SA Legal Academy article on draft regulations

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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