Department of Employment and Labour recovers R84 million through various legislations

The Department of Employment and Labour, through its Inspections and Enforcement Services (IES), has recovered more than R84 million through 152, 159 inspections conducted in the last financial year. This money was recovered as a result of noncompliance with the National Minimum Wage.

Effectively, this money went to the pockets of workers, who were underpaid, most of whom are vulnerable.

This was heard during the department’s inspector general, Ms Aggy Moiloa’s, presentation on the annual analysis report: financial year 2022/ 23 at the department’s executive committee meeting, held recently.

The inspector general said the purpose of the report was to provide an annual analysis report for the financial year 2022/ 2023 with regard to the implementation of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) in the Republic of South Africa.

Ms Moiloa said the employers across the country of South Africa, were tested for compliance by the Department on the following legislations: BCEA, NMWA, COIDA, UICA, EE, and OHSA.

“Advocacy is currently being undertaken at the levels of labour centre (information sessions), provincial (workshops) and national (seminars),” said Ms Moiloa.

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The IES branch hosted seminars wherein the NMW Act and regulations were the focus to encourage compliance with the NMWA and other employment law legislations.

The National Minimum Wage Act 9 of 2018 is in its fifth year of implementation since the act was promulgated and signed into law in 2018.

The national minimum wage has since increased from R23, 19 per hour for all workers, and R12, 75 for expanded public works programme workers in 2022 to R25, 42 per hour for all workers, including farm workers and domestic workers effective from March 1, 2023, and R13, 97 per hour for Expanded Public Works Programme workers.

Workers, who have concluded learnership agreements contemplated in section 17 of the Skills Development Act, 1998 (Act No 97 of 1998), are entitled to allowances contained in schedule two of the NMW Act.

For the first time since the promulgation of the act, domestic worker’s wages have been aligned with the minimum wage for all other workers in the country, from R15 during the first year of implementation to R25, 42 per hour, which is an increase of R10, 42 in five years.