South Africa pay transparency reporting law guide


Introduction
South Africa's Employment Equity Act, 1998, sets forth the foundation for employers' responsibilities around employment equity. Under the Act, Employers must create an employment equity plan, and comply with annual reporting requirements related to their plan.
On April 14, 2023, President Ramaphosa signed into law the bill that amends the Act, which is called the Employment Equity Amendment Act. The changes, effective Sept. 1, 2023, empower the Minister of Employment and Labour to set employment equity targets for economic sectors and require employers' targets within their individual employment equity plans to comply with those sector goals.
It also requires companies that want to do business in South Africa to submit a compliance certificate from the Department of Employment and Labour, confirming that they comply with the Act and its objectives.
Contact us
South Africa Reporting Requirements
Employers in South Africa must create an employment equity plan, and comply with annual reporting requirements related to their plan (the employment equity report), which involves completing Department of Labour forms EEA2 and EEA4. These forms include detailed employer/employee data around gender, race, and disability status, and an initial report and/or progress report around the employment equity plan.
Who Needs to Report?
Employers with over 50 employees must develop an employment equity plan and conduct an analysis of its employment policies, procedures, and work environment in order to identify employment barriers which adversely affect people from designated groups.
When to Report?
Employment Equity Plan
Employers should conduct an analysis with a profile of the employer's workforce, broken down by groups and levels, to determine the degree of underrepresentation at various levels. Based on this analysis, the employer must prepare and implement an employment equity plan to achieve reasonable progress toward equity in their workforce.
The employment equity plan must contain:
(a) the objectives to be achieved for each year of the plan;
(b) the affirmative action measures to be implemented;
(c) if underrepresentation is identified, the numerical goals, strategies, and timeline to correct it;
(d) the timetable for each year of the plan for the achievement of goals and objectives other than numerical goals;
(e) the duration of the plan (between 1-5 years);
(f) the procedures that will be used to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the plan and its progress;
(g) the internal procedures to resolve any dispute about the interpretation or implementation of the plan;
(h) the persons in the workforce, including senior managers, responsible for monitoring and implementing the plan.
Employment Equity Report
Employers must submit Department of Labour forms EEA2 and EEA4 annually to report on the status of equity in employment at their organization, as well as progress made toward their employment equity plan. The forms include a statement around the remuneration and benefits received at each occupational level of the employer's workforce, as well as detailed employment demographics, and information on measures the employer is taking to reduce inequity, with evaluation schema.
Compliance Certificate
An employer must be issued a Certificate of Compliance in order to do business with South Africa’s government, which may only be issued if the employer has complied with the applicable equity targets and the national minimum wage, submitted its most recent Employment Equity Report, and has not been found to have discriminated against its employees.
Where and When to Report?
Regulatory Filing:
In order to comply with the employment equity report requirement, employers must submit forms EEA2 and EEA4. These reports must be submitted to the Director General of the Department of Labor. There is an online portal (referred to as EE system) for report submissions.
External Posting:
While employers are not required to publicly post the EEA2 and EEA4 forms, the Department of Labour makes these forms available online to the public.
Internal Disclosure:
Any employer who has an employment equity plan, must make a copy of the plan available to its employees for copying and consultation.
Deadlines and Cadence:
A designated employer that employs 50-150 employees must:
- Submit the first report within 12 months after the commencement of the Act or becoming a designated employer; and then
- Submit a report to the Director General once every year on the first working day of October.
A designated employer that employs 150 or more employees must:
- Submit the first report within six months after the commencement of the Act or becoming a designated employer; and then
- Submit a report to the Director-General once every year on the first working day of October.
Note that if employers are submitting forms online rather than manually, they have additional time to do so and can submit online by Jan. 15.
South Africa Pay Transparency Requirements
As of now, there is no specific law in South Africa mandating salary transparency for employers across all sectors.
Employment Equity Standards
South Africa recognizes the standard of equal pay for equal work, substantially similar work, or work of equal value.
South Africa's Employment Equity Act, 1998 prohibits direct and indirect discrimination against employees and job applicants based on race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, family responsibility, ethnic or social origin, color, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, HIV status, conscience, belief, political opinion, culture, language, birth, or any other arbitrary ground.
The Act states: "A difference in terms and conditions of employment between employees of the same employer performing the same or substantially the same work or work of equal value that is directly or indirectly based on [race, gender, sex, etc.] is unfair discrimination."
The Risks of Non-Compliance
If an employer fails to comply with a request or recommendation made by the Director-General of the Department of Labour, the Director-General may refer the employer's non-compliance to the Labour Court. The Labour Court may make any appropriate order including ordering compliance with any provisions of the Employment Equity Act or the amending Act, imposing fines, and awarding damages or compensation.
Fines imposed for contravening the act range from R500,000 to R900,000, with higher fines for employers who are repeat violators of the Act's provisions.
How Can Trusaic Assist with South Africa Gender Pay Gap Reporting Compliance?
1. Comply - Use Trusaic's RAPTR solution to complete required reporting by compliance deadlines:
Applicability Determination: Perform an accurate assessment of your applicability, according to jurisdictional specific definitions and regulatory frameworks so you can understand your reporting obligations across the globe.
Deadline Management: Prepare ahead of time with project timelines, timely notifications, and reminders, to keep you on track to meeting jurisdictional deadlines.
Expert Legal Guidance and Support: Benefit from the expertise of our trusted pay equity attorneys, so you understand your compliance requirements across a diverse global regulatory landscape. Receive world-class customer support, including assistance throughout the compliance process.
Streamlined Data Extraction: Collect the necessary data for analysis and submission with a simple click of a button; powered by certified data integrations with the world's largest HCM, HR and Payroll platforms, including Workday, SAP, UKG and ADP. Provide data through Trusaic's Workplace Equity platform, a SOC 2 Type II and GDPR-compliant tool for data transmission.
Data Quality Assurance: Trusaic performs data validations to ensure your collected data and information aligns with the standards and definitions provided by each jurisdiction.
Compliant Report Outputs: Take away the burden of reporting by effortlessly generating outputs containing necessary compliance information.
Reporting Checklist: Follow step-by-step guidance on where, when and how to report to any jurisdiction's regulatory body, as well as your required internal disclosure and public posting obligations.
2. Correct - Use PayParity and OpportunityParity to understand, explain and resolve pay disparities:
Risk Assessments: Stay aware of any potential exposure to any government audit or litigation. Our cross-functional team of data scientists, statisticians, and government regulatory compliance experts have rigorously worked to reverse-engineer the calculations that will be used by jurisdictions to estimate pay disparities, so you can prepare in advance.
Understand your Pay Gaps: Leverage Trusaic's pay equity software solution to explain your pay gaps so you can understand the root causes and safeguard from equal pay claims and legal action.
Resolve Pay Disparities: Make pay adjustments where applicable so you can eliminate pay disparities and show improvements in your reported pay gaps from one year to the next.
Identify Barriers to Professional Growth: Ensure workforce diversity and equity with hiring, promotion, retention, and opportunity analytics using opportunity equity software solution.
3. Communicate - Use Trusaic's Workplace Equity Solution to communicate narratives and share salary ranges with confidence:
Workplace Equity Narrative: Communicate the sources of your pay gaps, progress objectives, and corrective measures to employees and internal stakeholders with Trusaic's Workplace Equity product suite. Show data-backed progress in your pay gaps over time.
Salary Range Explainability: Use Salary Range Finder to establish and post competitive and equitable pay ranges to confidently comply with pay transparency laws.
Mitigate Risk of Recurrent Pay Disparities: Ensure new hires receive fair pay offers with the use of external labor market data and internal pay equity analytics to reduce unplanned and expensive pay remediations.
The EU Directive
South African companies with operations in EU member states will be required to comply with gender pay gap reporting in those countries.
Trusaic is GDPR compliant and can assist any organization in any EU state in meeting its obligations under both the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the EU Pay Transparency Directive.