Sonja Vorster
The Labour Department issued a formal announcement on January 30 and 31, 2019 warning employers.
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Across the country inspectors were issued with very strict instructions that no hostages will be taken with employers not paying the legislated wages.
Inspections have been the order of the day in KwaZulu-Natal and will continue. The National Minimum Wage (NMW) is R20 per hour implemented and enforceable from January 1, 2019, for farm and forestry workers is R18 per hour – domestic workers is R15 per hour and for Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) it is R11 per hour.
Section 15 of the (NMW) Act makes a provision for an employer that cannot afford to pay the NMW to apply for an exemption. Regulations in this regard relating to the form and manner in which exemptions must be made.
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Applications for exemptions from paying the NMW are submitted through a NMW online system accessible from the department’s website. Offending employers will be named and shamed and publication of the offending employer’s details will appear among others on the Department of Labour’s website.
Fikiswa Mncanca, Chief Director for Statutory Services in the Department of Labour was quoted stating:
“Shaming such employers will ensure they are recognized as people intent on defying the state. This will go on to ensure that they will not be able to do business with government.”
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One such company, Fleeceytex Knitting based in Alberton, Johannesburg applied for exemption and was granted exemption with an order that R18 per hour was payable. The company, however, paid the workers R16 per hour and further placed a notice on the notice board stating the department authorised R16 as the exemption amount payable to the staff.
The company is now facing departmental penalties and facing a criminal charge of fraud. Needless to say the exemption is now withdrawn as the provisions have been abused by the employer.
The current penalty imposable for not complying with the NMW requires the employer to pay an amount equal to twice the value of the underpayment or twice the month wages, whichever is greater.
The department is required in terms of section 76 (4) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) on a quarterly basis, to publish in its official website, all employers that were issued with compliance orders.
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