Except where otherwise provided, this Chapter applies only to designated employers.

1) Every designated employer must, in order to achieve employment equity, implement affirmative action measures for people from designated groups in terms of this Act.

2) A designated employer must-

1. consult with its employees as required by section 16;
2. conduct an analysis as required by section 19;
3. prepare an employment equity plan as required by section 20; and
4. report to the Director-General on progress made in implementing its employment equity plan, as required by section 21.

An employer that is not a designated employer may notify the Director-General that it intends to comply with this Chapter as if it were a designated employer.

1) Affirmative action measures are measures designed to ensure that suitably qualified people from designated groups have equal employment opportunities and are equitably represented in all occupational categories and levels in the workforce of a designated employer.

2) Affirmative action measures implemented by a designated employer must include-

1. measures to identify and eliminate employment barriers, including unfair discrimination, which adversely affect people from designated groups;
2. measures designed to further diversity in the workplace based on equal dignity and respect of all people;
3. making reasonable accommodation for people from designated groups in order to ensure that they enjoy equal opportunities and are equitably represented in the workforce of a designated employer;

4. subject to subsection (3), measures to-

   1. ensure the equitable representation of suitably qualified people from designated groups in all occupational categories and levels in the workforce; and
   2. retain and develop people from designated groups and to implement appropriate training measures, including measures in terms of an Act of Parliament providing for skills development.

3) The measures referred to in subsection (2)(d) include preferential treatment and numerical goals, but exclude quotas.

1) A designated employer must take reasonable steps to consult and attempt to reach agreement on the matters referred to in section 17-

1. with a representative trade union representing members at the workplace and its employees or representatives nominated by them; or
2. if no representative trade union represents members at the workplace, with its employees or representatives nominated by them.

2) The employees or their nominated representatives with whom an employer consults in terms of subsection (1)(a) and (b), taken as a whole, must reflect the interests of-

1. employees from across all occupational categories and levels of the employer's workforce;
2. employees from designated groups; and
3. employees who are not from designated groups.

3) This section does not affect the obligation of any designated employer in terms of section 86 of the Labour Relations Act to consult and reach consensus with a workplace forum on any of the matters referred to in section 17 of this Act.

A designated employer must consult the parties referred to in section 16 concerning-

1. the conduct of the analysis referred to in section 19;
2. the preparation and implementation of the employment equity plan referred to in section 20; and
3. a report referred to in section 21.

1) When a designated employer engages in consultation in terms of this Chapter, that employer must disclose to the consulting parties all relevant information that will allow those parties to consult effectively.

2) Unless this Act provides otherwise, the provisions of section 163 of the Labour Relations Act, with the changes required by context, apply to disclosure of information.

1) A designated employer must collect information and conduct an analysis, as prescribed, of its employment policies, practices, procedures and the working environment, in order to identify employment barriers which adversely affect people from designated groups.

2) An analysis conducted in terms of subsection (1) must include a profile, as prescribed, of the designated employer's workforce within each occupational category and level in order to determine the degree of underrepresentation of people from designated groups in various occupational categories and levels in that employer's workforce.

1) A designated employer must prepare and implement an employment equity plan which will achieve reasonable progress towards employment equity in that employer's workforce.

2) An employment equity plan prepared in terms of subsection (1) must state-

1. the objectives to be achieved for each year of the plan;
2. the affirmative action measures to be implemented as required by section 15(2);
3. where underrepresentation of people from designated groups has been identified by the analysis, the numerical goals" to achieve the equitable representation of suitably qualified people from designated groups within each occupational category and level in the workforce, the timetable within which this is to be achieved, and the strategies intended to achieve those goals;
4. the timetable for each year of the plan for the achievement of goals and objectives other than numerical goals;
5. the duration of the plan, which may not be shorter than one year or longer than five years;
6. the procedures that will be used to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the plan and whether reasonable progress is being made towards implementing employment equity;
7. the internal procedures to resolve any dispute about the interpretation or implementation of the plan;
8. the persons in the workforce, including senior managers, responsible for monitoring and implementing the plan; and
9. any other prescribed matter.

3) For purposes of this Act, a person may be suitably qualified for a job as a result of any one of, or any combination of that person's-

1. formal qualifications;
2. prior learning;
3. relevant experience; or
4. capacity to acquire, within a reasonable time, the ability to do the job.

4) When determining whether a person is suitably qualified for a job, an employer must-

1. review all the factors listed in subsection (3); and
2. determine whether that person has the ability to do the job in terms of any one of, or any combination of those factors.

5) In making a determination under subsection (4), an employer may not unfairly discriminate against a person solely on the grounds of that person's lack of relevant experience.

6) An employment equity plan may contain any other measures that are consistent with the purposes of this Act.

1) A designated employer that employs fewer than 150 employees must-

1. submit its first report to the Director-General within 12 months after the commencement of this Act or, if later, within 12 months after the date on which that employer became a designated employer; and
2. thereafter, submit a report to the Director-General once every two years, on the first working day of October.

2) A designated employer that employs 150 or more employees must-

1. submit its first report to the Director-General within six months after the commencement of this Act or, if later, within six months after the date on which that employer became a designated employer; and
2. thereafter, submit a report to the Director-General once every year on the first working day of October.

3) Despite subsections (1) and (2), a designated employer that submits its first report in the 12-month period preceding the first working day of October, should only submit its second report on the first working day of October in the following year.

4) The reports referred to in subsections (1) and (2) must contain the prescribed information and must be signed by the chief executive officer of the designated employer.

5) An employer who becomes a designated employer in terms of this Act must-

1. report as contemplated in this section for the duration of its current employment equity plan; and
2. notify the Director-General in writing if it is unable to report as contemplated in this section, and give reasons therefor.

6) Every report prepared in terms of this section is a public document.

1) Every designated employer that is a public company must publish a summary of a report required by section 21 in that employer's annual financial report.

2) When a designated employer within any organ of state has produced a report in terms of section 21, the Minister responsible for that employer must table that report in Parliament.

Before the end of the term of its current employment equity plan, a designated employer must prepare a subsequent employment equity plan.

1) Every designated employer must-

1. assign one or more senior managers to take responsibility for monitoring and implementing an employment equity plan;
2. provide the managers with the authority and means to perform their functions; and
3. take reasonable steps to ensure that the managers perform their functions.

2) The assignment of responsibility to a manager in terms of subsection (1) does not relieve the designated employer of any duty imposed by this Act or any other law.

1) An employer must display at the workplace where it can be read by employees a notice in the prescribed form, informing them about the provisions of this Act.

2) A designated employer must, in each of its workplaces, place in prominent places that are accessible to all employees-

1. the most recent report submitted by that employer to the Director-General;
2. any compliance order, arbitration award or order of the Labour Court concerning the provisions of this Act in relation to that employer; and
3. any other document concerning this Act as may be prescribed.

3) An employer who has an employment equity plan, must make a copy of the plan available to its employees for copying and consultation.

An employer must establish and, for the prescribed period, maintain records in respect of its workforce, its employment equity plan and any other records relevant to its compliance with this Act.

1) Every designated employer, when reporting in terms of section 21(1) and (2), must submit a statement, as prescribed, to the Employment Conditions Commission established by section 59 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, on the remuneration and benefits received in each occupational category and level of that employer's workforce.

2) Where disproportionate income differentials are reflected in the statement contemplated in subsection (1), a designated employer must take measures to progressively reduce such differentials subject to such guidance as may be given by the Minister as contemplated in subsection (4).

3) The measures referred to in subsection (2) may include-

1. collective bargaining;
2. compliance with sectoral determinations made by the Minister in terms of section 51 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act;
3. applying the norms and benchmarks set by the Employment Conditions Commission;
4. relevant measures contained in skills development legislation;
5. other measures that are appropriate in the circumstances.

4) The Employment Conditions Commission must research and investigate norms and benchmarks for proportionate income differentials and advise the Minister on appropriate measures for reducing disproportional differentials.

5) The Employment Conditions Commission may not disclose any information pertaining to individual employees or employers.

6) Parties to a collective bargaining process may request the information contained in the statement contemplated in subsection (1) for collective bargaining purposes subject to section 16(4) and (5) of the Labour Relations Act.