Masilo Lefika, the deputy director of employment equity at the Department of Employment and Labour, has urged companies to inform their staff members about their anti-harassment policies.
Lefika was speaking at an Employment Equity Roadshow on Thursday in Vanderbijlpark that was organised in partnership with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA).
“Make sure all of your staff members are familiar with the details of your harassment rules. Make sure they are knowledgeable about the policy’s details and are properly educated on it. “Having a decent policy that workers are unaware of does not help,” Lefika added.
To make it simple for workers to comprehend and follow, he encouraged businesses to integrate the topic of harassment in their orientation, education, and training programmes in an accessible style.
He remarked, “This must include all the steps and processes that must be taken when an employee has to report harassment.”
When analysing case law on harassment, CCMA Commissioner Samson Phomodi explained to the audience that there are often “the powerful and the vulnerable” involved when harassment happens.
“This is where the Commission steps in to establish a balance with the law. People who disobey the law behave similarly to imprudent drivers who go past a red light, he added.
He explained to the group that the subjective nature of the harassment problem means that it relies on
Firms were reminded of the Employment Equity (EE) reporting, which became available to all designated employers on September 1, 2022.
Both the manual submission deadline of 3 October 2022 and the online submission deadline of 15 January 2023 will be reached.
The new Code of Good Practice on the prevention and eradication of harassment in the workplace is being promoted in part via the EE Roadshows.
The following Employment Equity Roadshow is slated to take place in Bloemfontein, Free State, on September 27, 2022.
Visit the department’s website at www.labour.gov.za for further details about EE.