The last ¼ of 2022 is upon us, the year as usual has flown by.
Don’t forget to submit your Employment Equity plan. If you require help, we will be honoured to assist you and your company. This is an essential part of your B-B BEE Portfolio of evidence on the date of verification where it WILL be asked for.
What is this all about?
Employment Equity Submission is an annual requirement of all designated employers as per the Employment Equity (EE) Act. The submission window opened on 01 September 2022.
The EE Act came into being in 1998 and its purpose is to promote equal opportunity and fair treatment in employment through the elimination of unfair discrimination, implementing affirmative action measures to redress the disadvantages in employment experienced by designated groups and to ensure their equitable representation in all occupational levels in the workforce.
The current definition of a designated employer is an employer who employs 50 or more employees, an employer who employs fewer than 50 employees, but has a total annual turnover as reflected in Schedule 4 of the Employment Equity Amendment Act No or an employer who has been declared a designated employer in terms of a collective agreement.
The purpose of the employment Equity plan is to enable the employer "to achieve reasonable progress towards employment Equity", to assist in eliminating unfair discrimination in the workplace, and to achieve equitable representation of employees from designated groups by means of affirmative action measures. An employment Equity plan must clearly set out the steps that the employer plans to follow to achieve these objectives.
Chapter 3 of the employment Equity act requires that employers take certain affirmative action measures to achieve employment Equity.
Employers must consult with the unions and employees to make sure that the plan is accepted by everybody and to allow all parties to have fair input
Employers must analyse all employment policies, practices, and procedures, and prepare a profile of their workforce to identify any problems relating to employment Equity.
Employers must prepare and implement an employment Equity plan, setting out the affirmative action measures they intend taking to achieve the employment Equity goals.
Employers must report to the Department of Labour on the implementation of the plan in order for the department to monitor their compliance.
Employers must display a summary of the provisions of the act in all languages relevant to their workplace. The summaries are available from the government printer and certain offices of the Department of Labour.
The Employment Equity Amendment Bill is expected to be released in September 2022, as this is when the current workforce equity plans, set by employers themselves, will elapse and it is envisaged that the labour minister would then set new five-year targets in terms of the new law as well as introduce additional changes.
All designated employers must ensure that online submissions are done before the deadline before 15 Jan 2023, the scope of the submissions must comply with any potential changes resulting from the amendments.
I would suggest that you submit now before the amendments come into play.
Sincerely
Hilton Johnson
CEO – Compliance Hub