The DOEL has been preparing to introduce amendments to the employment equity regulations, originally set to take effect on 1st September 2023. However, recent roadshows conducted by the DOEL have unveiled that the specific effective date for these changes has not yet been formally communicated.
While the DOEL has confirmed that compliance measures and reporting for the year 2023 will continue to be based on the existing legislation, the lack of an established effective date has led to some uncertainty among businesses.
Consequently, all designated employers, regardless of their employee count, will still be obligated to submit their annual EEA2 and EEA4 reports to the DOEL by the stipulated deadline of 15th January 2024.
What we know:
- The DOEL are still consolidating the public’s feedback on sectoral targets.
- The 1st of September for implementation of the amendments and sectoral targets are not possible.
- For the reporting which opens 1 Sept 2023 -15 Jan 2024, use the designated employer definition and all other rules as per current legislation and not amendments.
- Employers who have valid EE plans, do not need to draft a new plan at this point.
- Employers whose EE plans have expired the best practice would be to continue with drafting a new EE plan focusing on both the draft sectoral targets and EAP as basis/target.
What we can expect:
- Justifiable reasonable grounds will start being measured from the year (i.e., 2025).
- When an employer becomes non-designated, they should not deregister, as COC will be done through the portal.
- There will be no system check with the CCMA for COC, but rather a declaration from the employer and then inspectors can conduct their checks/visits for confirmation.
- The selected EAP and sector on the new portal will stick for the 5-year period. Where there are changes within the 5 years in an organisation, they will communicate the process.
- They are still in discussions with the DTI on the impact of the management control element for the employer who is non-compliant in terms of COC.
The main objectives of the Employment Equity Amendment legislation include the following:
- To reduce the regulatory burden for small employers – that is, those employers that employ between 1 to 49 employees will be excluded from complying with the provisions of Chapter III of the EE Act.
- To empower the Minister to regulate the sector specific numerical EE targets.
- To promulgate Section 53.
- To strengthen compliance, including the issuing of EE compliance certificates.
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2 Comments
This is helpful thanks.
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