BCEAA introduces important changes to Employment Act

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According to Gavin Stansfield, director in the Employment Practice at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, the BCEAA introduces important amendments to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, including:

• a prohibition on employers from requiring employees to make certain payments to secure employment and from requiring employees to purchase goods, services or products;
  
• the prohibition of employing children under the age of 15 years;
  
• to make it an offence for anyone to require or permit a child to perform any work or provide any services that place at risk the child's well-being;
  
• to provide for the Minister of Labour to publish sectoral determinations in respect of employees and employers who are not covered by any other sectoral determination;
  
• to provide for the Minister to publish sectoral determinations to regulate the adjustment of remuneration increases;
  
• to provide for the Minister to publish sectoral determinations to regulate task-based work, piecework, homework, sub-contracting and contract work; and
  
• to provide for the Minister to publish sectoral determinations to regulate the threshold for automatic organisational rights of trade unions and to provide the Labour Court with exclusive jurisdiction in respect of certain matters.

"The BCEAA forms part of an array of amendments to South Africa's labour laws including amendments to the Employment Equity Act, and in particular its provisions relating to the principle of equal pay for equal work, far-reaching amendments to the Labour Relations Act, including the regulation of the so-called vulnerable categories of employees including fixed-term contractors, temporary employment services (labour brokers) and part-time employees, and the introduction of the Employment Services Act dealing primarily with the employment of foreign nationals. The Employment Equity Amendment Act came into operation with effect from 1 August 2014. The Labour Relations Amendment Act is awaiting a date of commencement as is the Employment Services Act," Stansfield adds.