Employment Equity Deregistration: Why is this important?

An employer recently reached out to NEASA for assistance with a Labour Court application that the Department of Employment & Labour (DEL) brought against it for failing to comply with certain sections of the Employment Equity Act (EEA).

In this application, the DEL requested the Labour Court to grant an order imposing fines upon the employer on two grounds:

  • its failure to report or inform the Director General (DG) of its inability to report due to its non-designated status, and
  • operating without an EE Plan during the inspection. 

Each of these contraventions carried with it a maximum permissible fine of R1.5 million, meaning a total amount of R3 million was requested by the DEL to be imposed on the employer.

This employer has been a non-designated employer for several years but failed to inform the DG and failed to apply for deregistration from the EE public register, as they should have done when they became non-designated.

Fortunately, the matter was settled out of court, with the employer being liable for a considerably lower amount, as agreed upon between it and the DEL.

WHO SHOULD DEREGISTER FROM THE EMPLOYMENT EQUITY REGISTER?

With this in mind, it is important that employers comply with the law when they fall below the thresholds and become non-designated. They must inform the DG that they are no longer a designated employer and apply for deregistration from the EE register.

Thresholds for designated employers are as follows:

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Should you fail to inform the DG of your non-designation status, you are still deemed to be a designated employer and will have to comply with the relevant duties, until such time as you have informed the DG and received approval of deregistration.

Failure to comply with the EEA may lead to serious fines being imposed on employers. The above was only one of several such cases, with the frequency only increasing as the DEL’s enforcement becomes stricter with regards to EE compliance.

For the reasons outlined above, deregistration applications must be submitted immediately.

For assistance, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call on 012 332 5350.