EE changes: What should you worry about? (Part 2)
Last week, I talked about how the unfair discrimination rules will change if the Employment Equity Amendment Bill is passed. This week, I am going to look at the equal pay for equal work or work of equal value principle.
One of the proposed changes that has received much attention is the express right to “equal pay for equal work or work of equal value”. In the Employment Equity Amendment Bill, this right is within the framework of unfair discrimination. What this means is that employees, who are employed by the same employer and do the same work, very similar work or work of equal value, must have the same terms and conditions of employment.
If it happens that these employees have different terms and conditions of employment, and the reason for this difference is directly or indirectly based on any one of the grounds listed in the Act or any other arbitrary grounds, this is unfair discrimination.
How do you assess work of equal value?
The Minister of Labour may issue regulations setting out the criteria and the methodology you will use to assess work of equal value.
This might not be a radical change to our law because currently, an employee has the right to lodge a claim if the unfair discrimination is about pay practices. However, the new section expressly highlights that this type of conduct is prohibited and puts an onus on employers to review their pay practices and ensure that they can rationally and objectively justify any differences.
