The economic devastation brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing national lockdown has seen companies retrenching, short time and in many companies reduced turnover.
Recently the Department of Employment and Labour sent circulars to designated employers emphasising compliance with the Employment Equity Act. A designated employer is an employer who employ 50 or more employees, or the annual turnover threshold is above that is stated on schedule 4 of the Employment Equity Act.
If you are no longer a designated employer (as per the above definition) means you will no longer be required to comply with the Employment Equity Act and you need to be de-registered from the Employment Equity public register. If a company is not de-registered it will continue to appear on the Department of Employment and Labour register as a designated employer and expected to comply with Employment Equity Act.
Reasons that may be used to justify de-registering include, mergers, liquidations, Insolvency, employer no longer designated because the number of employees are less than 50 and or turnover is now below the annual turnover threshold as stated on schedule 4 of the Employment Equity Act.
De-registration needs to be completed before the last working day of August 2020.
If you need assistance with de-registering or your submission, please do contact us and we will happily assist you.
Employment Equity Plan
An Employment Equity plan is a designated employer’s execution programme intended to address unequal representation and unfair treatment of designated groups in the workplace at all occupational levels.
The plan must be developed after an analysis of your workforce profile, policies, practices and procedures has been done and it must not be of less than one year or more than five years .It is advisable that at least 6 months before the expiry of the Employment Equity Plan a designated employer should prepare a successive Employment Equity Plan as required by Section 23 of the Employment Equity Act.
In the event that the company already has an Employment Equity plan, goals and targets previously set are no longer realistic and unachievable because of different reasons the employer must review the Employment Equity plan together with the Employment Equity committee.
Before submitting Employment, Equity reports an Employment Equity plan must exist as it forms the content of the Employment Equity report. All designated employers are required by law to submit Employment Equity Reports annually. Online reporting opens on the 1st of September 2020 and closes on the 15th of January 2021. Manual submissions open on the 1st of September 2020 and closes on the 1st working day of October 2020.
Why do you need to have an Employment Equity plan before submitting your Employment Equity report?
The duration of the plan is needed when reporting. Section 20 of the Employment Equity Act indicates that the duration of the Employment Equity Plan may not be shorter than one year or longer than five years.
Numerical goals, targets and affirmative action measures form part of the EEA2 report and are informed on the Employment Equity Plan.
There must be an indication on the EEA2 report of the parties that were involved in the consultation process when developing and implementing an Employment Equity Plan and preparation of Employment Equity Reports.
If you need assistance with developing an Employment Equity plan and to avoid a hefty fine from the Department of Employment and Labour for non-compliance with the Employment Equity Act please contact us and we will gladly assist you.
Article by: Rumbi Vashoma – EE & SDF Consultant