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LABOUR LAW: DRAFT AMENDMENT BILL OUT FOR COMMENT
- 26 February 2026
- Labour Law
- SA Legal Academy
The Department of Employment & Labour has gazetted a draft Labour Law Amendment Bill, calling for input by 28 March 2026. This follows Cabinet’s recent approval of the draft Bill’s publication for comment, which was announced in a media statement on the meeting concerned.
According to a memorandum on the draft Bill’s objects, among other things it seeks to:
- provide for changes in the labour market and in the ‘nature of work’
- ‘broaden access’ by an ‘increasingly large group of unprotected workers’ to collective bargaining mechanisms in the context of workplace rights, including freedom of association
- address bottlenecks in adjudication and dispute resolution systems, and
- simplify related procedures.
The Cabinet media statement notes that, once tabled in Parliament, passed, enacted and operationalised, the proposed new piece of legislation is expected to:
- ‘ensure alignment with (the) constitutional right to equality and dignity’ by promoting:
- fair labour practices
- social justice, and
- inclusive economic participation, and to
- ‘improve (the) enforcement of employment standards’.
In Cabinet’s view, the draft Bill strikes an ‘appropriate balance’ between fair labour practice and the ‘operational requirements’ of employers.
Its long title also refers to provisions enabling ‘sectoral determinations to apply to a broader category of employees’.
Informed by ‘extensive consultations’ (and a review of the prevailing legislation conducted by the National Economic Development & Labour Council), the draft Bill proposes amendments to the:
- 1995 Labour Relations Act
- 1997 Basic Conditions of Employment Act
- 1998 Employment Equity Act, and the
- 2018 National Minimum Wage Act.
At the time of writing, a draft Labour Relations Amendment Bill approved during the same Cabinet meeting for release into the public domain had not yet been gazetted.
- draft Bill
- Cabinet media statement
Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch
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