The Employment Equity Amendment Bill, 2020 was passed by parliament on 17 May 2022 and is expected to be signed into law by the President between now and the beginning of 2023.
The Amended Employment Equity Act, set to come into effect on 1 September 2023, will allow the Employment and Labour Minister to regulate sector specific EE targets as well as issue compliance notices to Employers, in this regard.
The process of setting sector specific EE targets started in June 2019, with 18 sectors being consulted thus far, including Education; Water supply; Sewerage management and remediation; Accommodation and food services; Human health and social work; Agriculture, forestry and fishing; Wholesale and retail trade; Repair of motor vehicles; Administrative and support; Professional, scientific and technical; Electricity, gas stream and air-conditioning supply as well as Financial and Insurance activities. This process is expected to be finalised by the end of September 2022, where after the sector targets will be published for public comment.
All businesses, including those not doing work directly for the State, will have to comply with the new regulations.
A new EE online system will also be created to annually monitor the implementation of sector targets and employers not meeting these targets, will have to provide justifiable reasons therefor.