The submission of annual equity reports is prescribed in the Employment Equity Act of 1998.
The Employment Equity (EE) reporting period is under way and all designated employers needed to submit their annual 2023 EE reports by January 15, the Department of Employment and Labour said yesterday.
The deadline for employers to submit 2023 reports is 15 January 2024 at midnight. The EE reporting season for both manual and online opened on September 1, 2023.
For manual reporting, the closing date was October 2, 2023.
The department said that the 2023 EE reporting process was based on the current EE Act, and not the controversial EE Amendment Act, 2022.
The starting date of the EE Act Amendments was still pending (it had initially been touted for the end of September 2023) as the effective date was still awaiting the President’s signature, the department said.
One of the chief critics of the EE Amendment Act, the DA, has threatened to challenge the matter in court as it believes the regulatory changes proposed will worsen racial relations in South Africa.
Parliament, comprising both the National Council of Provinces and the National Assembly, approved the Employment Equity Amendment Bill on May 17, 2022. Subsequently, the Employment Equity Amendment Act was officially published in the Government Gazette in April 2023.
Key objectives of the EE Amendment, 2022 include reducing the regulatory burden on small businesses (those who employ 1-49 employees) – not to be regarded as designated employers.
An objective was also to empower the minister to regulate sector-specific EE numerical targets to ensure the equitable representation of suitably qualified people from designated groups.
The submission of annual equity reports is prescribed in the Employment Equity Act of 1998.
According to the 23rd Commission for Employment Equity (CEE) Report, during the 2022 employment equity reporting cycle, 27 532 employment equity reports were submitted by designated employers, which included 7 215 960 employees.
This represented an increase of 1.9 % of reports received against the previous year.
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