Employment Equity Act

The purpose of  the Employment Equity Act, No 55 of 1998 is to achieve equity in the workplace by promoting equal opportunity and fair treatment in employment through elimination of unfair discrimination and implementing affirmative action measures to redress the disadvantages in employment experienced by designated groups, in order to ensure equitable representation in all occupational categories and levels in the workforce.

This Act provides for additional reporting requirements employers with the additional burden of submitting an Employment Equity Report.

All designated employers must, in terms of Section 21 of the Employment Equity Act of 1998 submit their annual report annually. The next reporting deadline for 2019 is 1 October 2019, if you submit manually or by post. Reports cannot be submitted via e-mail or fax.

The Department of Labour has also launched an Employment Equity Online Reporting System where reports can be submitted electronically. The deadline for online submissions for the 2019 reporting period is 15 January 2020. To complete the online report, please visit the Department of Labour's website and register for the on-line reporting. Please note: The EE online system for 2019 reporting is still to be opened.

 

Legislation

Acts

Please visit the Contemporary Gazette page for access to a legal database

Bill

  • Employment Equity Amendment Bill (comments due by 20 November 2018) (332Kb PDF)

 

Regulations

 

  • Employment Equity Act (55/1998) as amended: Replacement of Employment Equity Regulations  (360 Kb PDF)
  • Public comment: Draft Employment Equity Regulations, 2018, comments due by 20 November 2018 (1Mb PDF)
  • Code of Good Practice on the Preparation, Implementation and Monitoring of the Employment Equity Plan (200Kb PDF)
  • Employment Equity Regulations, 2014 (3MB PDF)
  • Code of Good Practice on Equal Pay/ Remuneration for work of Equal Value (660 Kb PDF)
  • Code of Good Practice on Employment of Persons with Disabilities (2Mb PDF)

 

Information

 

  • 2020 EE report deadline looming (300Kb PDF)
  • Guidance released by Department of Labour on Employment Equity On-Line Reporting (7MB PDF)
  • Summary of the Employment Equity Act (75Kb PDF)