Many companies are still unaware of their reporting obligations in terms of the Employment Equity Act.
Business law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr said that the deadline for manual reporting to the Department of Labour was last Friday.
The deadline for electronic reporting via the Department of Labour's website is 15 January 2011, said Gillian Lumb, director in the Employment Practice Group.
In terms of the act, designated employers have to submit a report to the department on their progress to eliminate unfair discrimination in the workplace and implementing affirmative action measures to address the imbalances in the representation of black people, women and people with disabilities in the workplace.
Employers compelled to compile employment equity plan
According to Lumb, a designated employer included any employer that employed 50 or more employees, or who employed less than 50 employees but had a total annual threshold equal to or above the applicable turnover which ranged from R2 million to R25 million.
Lumb said employers had to compile an employment equity plan and conduct a workplace analysis. Employees had to be consulted on the analysis, the plan and the report.
Checks
"The Department of Labour is carrying out inspections on employers to ensure compliance with the act in particular to ensure that employees are being consulted in the process and an employment equity plan has been compiled."
It was not enough to simply fill in the employment equity report.
Lumb said the employment equity reports asked for details such as the profile of the workforce, gender, race and disabilities of employees as well as details of recruitment, promotion and termination.
The report also asked for details on skills development and employment equity goals and targets. Barriers to affirmative action and measures to overcome this, was another section dealt with in the report.
Source: Sapa
