The Employment Equity Amendment (EEA) Bill, 2020 was passed by Parliament, which includes the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces, in May and currently waiting for the assenting and signing into law by the president. Its objectives were to regulate sector specific Employment Equity (EE) targets and to regulate compliance criteria for issuing EE Compliance Certificates according to Section 53 of the EEA. Who does this affect? Not just organisations that do government tenders, but also private sector businesses. All will need to be in good standing to be compliant with EE.

Therefore, it is necessary for all businesses to sharpen their knowledge and align their employee structure with the latest legislation that will soon take effect after the sign off. As a body which strives to keep industry players well-informed and prepared for regulation changes, the Temporary Employment Services Division (TESD) recently held a webinar to inform Temporary Employment Service (TES) providers of the “big ticket” amendments. This well-timed webinar arranged by the TESD was presented by John Botha, Ministerial Appointment to the Employment Equity Commission to clarify the status of the Act Amendments, provide an overview of the amendments and the ministerial targets per sector as well as discuss the impact on TES clients and the impact on the TES industry.

Botha provided an in-depth look at ministerial sectoral targets in top, senior, middle and junior management for gender, race and disability. Also, the expansion on defining an employee’s disability was particularly interesting as it asks employer’s 3 questions—whether a person’s impairment is physical, mental, intellectual or sensory (audio/visual); whether it is long-term/recurring for more than 12 months and whether their impairment limits their entry or advancement in employment.

What about the EE Compliance Certificate? The webinar highlighted that without it, businesses will not have access to government or state-owned enterprise tenders, open themselves up to litigation and fines according to the EEA charters 2 and 3 as well as potentially be eliminated from private sector work and tenders as they will not be verifiable without a valid EE certificate. This means businesses must achieve their targets or have justifiable reasons for not meeting them, submit EEA 2 and EEA 4 reports, have no adverse CCMA or Labour Court decisions regarding unfair discrimination during the preceding 12 months and have paid national minimum wage in terms of the National Minimum Wage Act, 2018, to their employees. What are the justifiable grounds for not complying with the EEA targets? Find out by viewing it here: https://tesd.org.za/2022/09/15/webinar-amendments-to-the-employment-equity-act-and-the-impact-on-tes/

The TESD provides TES companies with a stakeholder forum to regulate this specialised industry to serve the needs of their clients and to protect the rights of their candidates in a legally compliant environment. Webinars like these are just one of the ways the TESD constantly informs and educates their members to contribute to the continuous improvement and growth of their industry.