Employment Equity

The Department of Labour does random inspections to ensure compliance with the Act and fines (starting at R500 000) can be issued for non-compliance with the Act.

Contact equity@beyondconsulting.co.za or 011 023 9451/2 for professional Employment Equity services at a very competitive rate.

The purpose of the Employment Equity Act is the following:

• To promote equal opportunities and fair treatment to all in the workplace by eliminating unfair discrimination; and
• To implement affirmative action measures to redress the disadvantages in employment experienced in the past by members from designated groups.

If you have more than 50 employees or an annual turnover equal or more than the amounts tabled below, you are regarded as a “designated employer” and need to submit Employment Equity documents to the Department of Labour.

The flow chart below will assist you to establish whether your organisation is regarded as a designated employer and thus need to comply with the Employment Equity Act.

Newly established organisations should submit employment equity documents within 6 months of becoming a “designated employer”.

The size of your organisation will determine the frequency of reporting:

• Organisations with less than 150 employees submit employment equity documents every second year on the year that ends on an even number (e.g. 2010; 2012; 2014 etc.), by 1st October.
• Organisations with 150 or more employees submit employment equity documents every year by 1st October.

Beyond Consulting can assist you to get your organisation’s Employment Equity in place by providing the following services:

1. Conducting a workplace analysis;
2. Development of the EEA2 (Employment Equity Report);
3. Development of the EEA4 (Income Differentials);
4. Development of numerical goals and recommendations in line with legislative requirements;
5. Coordination of the process necessary to establish an Employment Equity Forum/Committee;
6. Coordination of the process to appoint an Employment Equity Manager;
7. Consultations/meetings with the Employment Equity Forum/Committee;
8. Training the Employment Equity Forum/Committee members on the requirements of the Employment Equity Act and their role as committee members;
9. Proving appointment letters for Employment Equity Manager and Forum/Committee members;
10. Developing an Employment Equity policy and constitution;
11. Coordination of the process to complete EEA1 forms by all employees;
12. Development of the Employment Equity Plan as required by the Act;
13. Advice on the score for the Employment Equity element of the BEE scorecard and how to improve this score; and
14. Proving the documents required to implement to process successfully.

In other words, we can assist you to handle your complete Employment Equity process and to get all the required documents in place.  Alternatively, you might choose to handle some of the above aspects on your own and get our specialist input on the process.

Beyond Consulting has developed a computer programme that can generate your EEA2 and EEA4 reports within one working day with 100% accuracy (based on the information provided to us).  We can further assist you to classify your employees according to the required semantic scale (top management to unskilled) if required).  All we require from you in order to generate the reports, is information of the employees employed in the reporting period (e.g. last financial year) in an excel format.  We will provide you with the excel template as well as a guideline that will assist you when completing the excel spreadsheet.

Start your Employment Equity process now to ensure that you meet the Department of Labour’s deadline of 1 October.  Ideally you can combine your skills development and employment equity processes and form one committee that deals with skills development and employment equity.

There are many Employment Equity documents that should be consulted while developing Employment Equity reports and implementing Employment Equity successfully in organisations.  The table below gives an indication of the purpose and use of each document.

The following resources might be of interest to you:

• Summary of the Employment Equity Act, Act 55 of 1998
• CEE Annual Report 2011a
• 10th Annual CEE Report 2010
• Amendment – Employment Equity Regulations (part 1, 2 and 3)
• Basic Guides on Employment Equity:
  • Basic guide on Affirmative Action
  • Basic guide to Employment Equity consultations
  • Basic guide to Employment Equity managers
  • Basic guide to Employment Equity pay gaps
  • Basic guide to Employment Equity plans
  • Basic guide to Employment Equity reports
  • Basic guide to Employment Equity studies
  • Basic guide to informing workers about Employment Equity
  • Basic guide to medical and psychometric testing
  • Form EEA1 – Employment Equity declaration by Employee
• Employment Equity Forms (EEA2 and EEA4)
• Guide on completion of the EEA4
• How to submit employment equity reports manually
• How to notify the Director General for employers who cannot report

All downloads are provided by the Department of Labour (DoL).

Visit our Frequently Asked Questions should you have more information about Employment Equity.

Please contact us at equity@beyondconsutling.co.za or 011 023 9451/2 to get your Employment Equity process started.