Employment Equity roadshows hit KZN

Monday, October 8, 2018

The Department of Labour’s public hearings on the amendments of the Employment Equity (EE) Act and the draft EE regulations kicks off in KwaZulu-Natal this week.

From Tuesday, the hearings will be held at the Golden Horse Casino Hotel in Pietermaritzburg and on Wednesday at the Olive Convention Centre in Durban.

Held under the theme: “Real transformation makes business sense” – the public hearings focus on EE reporting advocacy and the amendments to EE legislation and Regulations, designed to fast-track the transformation of workplaces.

The department has published the Employment Equity Amendment Bill and the Draft Employment Equity Regulations in the Government Gazette in response to the slow pace of transformation in the workplaces.

As such, the department is using the public hearings to gather comments to the amendments.

The key objectives of the EE amendments are the introduction of provisions and regulatory requirements for the promulgation of Section 53 to ensure employers benefiting financially from state contracts comply with the EE Act.

The amendments also aim to bring alignment between definitions, policy provisions and the administration systems and enhancing of the collection of data for the National Minimum Wage Commission as well as to make reporting requirements easier for designated employers who are small employers.

Furthermore, the amendments want to see the introduction of provisions in the EE Amendment Bill and regulations for the consultation and setting of numerically based sector targets across various occupational levels to ensure an equitably represented workforce, and

The EE public hearings will be held from 08:30 to 14:00. The public hearings end on 26 October 2018 in Gauteng. – SAnews.gov.za