All designated employers must submit their annual Employment Equity (EE) reports to the Department of Employment and Labour, between 1 September 2021 and 15 January 2022.

Who must report:

• A designated employer is obligated to submit an employment equity report, reporting in accordance with Section 21 of the Employment Equity Act (no. 55 of 1998). A Designated Employer is an employer who employs 50 or more employees, or an employer who employers fewer than 50 employees, but has a total annual turnover that is equal to or above the annual turnover threshold specified for the relevant sector as follow:

• Employers who have become newly designated on or after the first working day of April, but before the first working day of October, only has to submit their first report on the first working day of October in the following year.
• Employers who voluntarily wish to comply in terms of section 14 of the Employment Equity Act.

How do employers go about achieving employment equity?

Designated employers must do the following:

• Draw up an employment equity plan, setting out the steps they intend taking to achieve employ­ment equity over the next one to five years.
• To do the above, they need to analyse their workforce profile as well as their employment practices and policies.
• In drawing up the plan they must consult with unions and employees to get agreement around it.
• Employers need to submit their equity reports regularly to the Department of Labour, which monitors implementation of the EE plan.

Do you have to submit reports?

The Department of Labour is responsible for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of affirmative action. To do this, it needs to receive regular reports from companies on their progress. Regular reporting to the department is a legal requirement. Failure to comply with the EE Act may result in fines ranging from 2% to 10% of a company’s turnover.

Our team is ready to assist you in ensuring that you fully comply with the Employment Equity Act. Our relevant services include:

• Conducting a workplace analysis
• Presenting a workshop regarding “Embracing diversity in the workplace” to all employees
• Development of the EEA2 (Employment Equity Report)
• Development of the EEA4 (Income Differentials)
• Development of numerical goals and recommendations in line with legislative requirements
• Coordination of the process necessary to establish an Employment Equity Forum / Committee
• Coordination of the process to appoint an Employment Equity Manager
• Consultations / meetings with the Employment Equity Forum / Committee
• Training the Employment Equity Forum / Committee members on the requirements of the Employ­ment Equity Act and their role as committee members
• Development of a comprehensive Employment Equity Policy
• Coordination of the process to complete EEA1 forms by all employees
• Development of the Employment Equity Plan as required by the Act
• Providing the documents required to implement the process successfully
• Successful reporting of the Employment Equity documents to the Department of Labour

We urge clients to finalise the reporting as soon as possible as the Department of Labour’s EE portal becomes rather congested nearing the deadline of 15 January 2022.

If you wish to make use of Joubert & Associates for your EE reporting, kindly let us know as soon as possible:

info@hrsa.co.za / 021 863 0966

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