The obligation on employers to effect affirmative action measures
- Authors: Papu, Mzimkulu Gladman
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Discrimination in employment -- South Africa , Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa , South Africa -- Employment Equity Act -- 1998 , Affirmative action programs -- Law and legislation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/19738 , vital:28949
- Description: Since 1994, South Africa has undergone socio-economic, political and demographic transformation. The Employment Equity Act (No 55) of 1998 aims to facilitate workplace transformation through the elimination of unfair discrimination and the implementation of affirmative action measures to enable equitable representation of employees in all occupational categories and levels in the workplace. This legislation was amended on 1 August 2014, and South Africa has watched with keen interest to see what the impact of the amendments to the Employment Equity Act would be on the world of work. For many it was to see whether job seekers and individuals from the designated groups experienced equity in access to the workplace and fair treatment in employment. For others, it was to see to what extent businesses would either benefit from its accountability and fairness to all employees or suffer from increased regulatory compliance to employment equity and affirmative action amendments. At the heart of the amendments was a need to make the South African Constitution real for South Africans in facilitating work inclusive environments in which people are enabled and motivated to contribute to the goals of the organisation. The state must respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights in the Bill of Rights, one of these rights being equality. Affirmative action as a component of employment equity is inherently part of the process of increasing and managing diversity and identifying barriers to fair employment. Transformation does make business sense. No business will survive in the long-run, unless it reinvents itself and constantly adapts to the ever-changing demands of an increasingly competitive global environment in which it operates. An organisation’s ability to create a work culture in which diversity management is effectively managed is more likely to experience the positive effects thereof on its business. Organisations require a diverse workforce with the requisite multidisciplinary talents and knowledge to achieve its goals in an ever-changing environment. The evaluation of the extent of the progress and the narrative is to be drawn from the reported workplace demographics. This is made up of statistical analyses of the representation of individuals from designated groups at different occupational levels, as well as training and progression of designated employees by reporting employers. The ultimate test of transformation however, is in the extent to which employees would vouch for the inclusivity of the workplace environment and the total absence of unfair discrimination based on listed and arbitrary grounds. For the Commission to be able to comment on the experience of diversity management and inclusion as part of employment equity, a different approach needs to be taken. I am excited to share that the Commission’s strategic plan for the period 2016 to 2021 has prioritised the need to go beyond workforce demographic statistics and move towards a better understanding of the experience of fair treatment, diversity and “inclusion” Management. There is a significant shift in the way in which the Commission is approaching its work, in the interest of the country. It is not the aim of the Commission for Employment Equity to focus its attention on the punitive measures for non-compliance only, and accordingly the third Commission hosted the Employment Equity Awards, which recognise the good work done by organisations towards furthering the transformation agenda. The third Commission moreover developed a number of Codes of Good Practice to support the implementation of employment equity. A lot of ground was covered to enable the fourth Commission to focus on their mandate more effectively. We are grateful for their hard work and we wish them well as we look forward to realising our objectives. On a different note, the United Nations offices in New York were a hub of activity and rigorous debate during the March 2016 Summit on the Status of Women. One of the themes extensively interrogated at the summit was “Women Empowerment in the economic space”. Globally, not enough is happening to turn the economic status of women. The United Nations Sustainable Goal 5 is “Gender Equality”. A 50-50 target has been set for female representivity at all occupational levels globally. South Africa needs to work towards this goal as part of their contribution. The Summit echoed the words “Women leaders in the business world is everyone’s business”. It would do us proud in the future to be able to report significant progress in this area. Another topical issue was “Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value”. Three countries, namely Canada, Sweden and Iceland have committed themselves to pay parity across gender by 2022. South Africa on the other hand has already enacted this policy. We need to see significant change in this area. In line with the discussions during the summit, I would also like to encourage designated employers in South Africa to review policies in favour of transparency around remuneration. This will go a long way in creating an enabling environment for elimination of unfair discrimination in the workplace.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Substantive equality and proof of employment discrimination
- Authors: Loyson, Madeleine
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Discrimination in employment -- South Africa , Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa , Affirmative action programs -- Law and legislation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
- Identifier: vital:10208 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1059 , Discrimination in employment -- South Africa , Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa , Affirmative action programs -- Law and legislation -- South Africa
- Description: This dissertation is a journey through the legislative changes and case law in order to analyse and evaluate the changing nature of South African jurisprudence in respect of the notions of equality, discrimination and affirmative action and the manner in which these issues are proved and dealt with in our courts. It focuses firstly on the emergence of the post-Wiehahn labour laws and the developing jurisprudence concerning discrimination in South Africa towards the end of a long period of isolation from the international world. It witnesses the growing cognizance which was taken of international guidelines and their slow and gradual incorporation into our jurisprudence before the institution of the new democratic government, in the days when the country was still firmly in the grip of a regime which prided itself on its discriminatory laws. It also deals in some depth with the new laws enacted after the first democratic government was installed, especially in so far as the Constitution was concerned. The first clutch of cases dealing with discrimination which were delivered by the Constitutional Court and their effects on decisions of the labour courts thereafter, are dealt with in great detail, indicating how important those judgments were and still are ten years later. A special chapter is devoted to the Harksen case, still a leading authority on how to deal with allegations of unfair discrimination. Having traversed several of the judgments of the labour courts after Harksen, several observations are made in the conclusion of the study which, it is hoped, summarize the major areas of concern in respect of the task of testing claims of unfair discrimination arising in our Courts.
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- Date Issued: 2009