Do you display the required “legal wall charts”? Do you know what these are? Do you know which you need and why you need it?
Businesses need to display a summary of certain prescribed legislation, in a place where it can be seen by all employees in order to create awareness of the legislation. There are a number of wall charts available, but not all charts need to be displayed by all employers. According to legal prescripts most businesses would be obligated to only display two summaries of acts, being:
The Basic Conditions of Employment Act (Act 75 of 1997)
a. The Act applies to all employees and employers except members of the National Defense Force, National Intelligence Agency, South African Secret Service and unpaid volunteers working for an organisation with a charitable purpose.
b. The basic conditions of employment contained in the Act form part of the contract of employment of employees covered by the Act. Some, but not all, basic conditions of employment may be varied by individual or collective agreements in accordance with the provisions of the Act
The Employment Equity Act (Act 55 of 1998)
The purpose of the Act is to achieve equity in the workplace, by
a. promoting equal opportunity and fair treatment in employment through the elimination of unfair discrimination; and
b. implementing affirmative action measures to redress the disadvantages in employment experienced by designated groups, to ensure their equitable representation in all occupational categories and levels in the workforce.
These two summaries of acts (or then wall charts) must be displayed in the prescribed form and in the official language(s) spoken by employees at the workplace.
Employers with five or more employees in their employment must have a copy (not a poster) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (Act 85 of 1993) and the relevant Regulations available at the workplace. If an employer has less than five employees, they must make a copy of the OHS Act available on request of any employee. In the modern digital age, it can certainly be argued that an electronic copy of the Act would be sufficient to dispose of this duty.
However, the OHS Act does require that certain employers must display the General Machinery Regulations (GMR) in the form of wall charts as well. Regulation 9(2) of the GMR requires employers with boilers on the premises to display a copy of what is also known as Schedule C. This summary must also be displayed in a clearly visible place on the premises. The GMR also requires employers with machinery (other than a boiler) to display a copy of Schedule D – Notice in respect of machinery other than a boiler.
If you as employer do not comply with the above-mentioned prescripts, you may be the subject of unwanted attention from the Department of Labour.
Other summaries of Act which many employers may choose to display on a voluntary include the Tobacco Act, COID, POPI, UI, Consumer Protection Act, etc.
Law@Work has all the required posters available in a compact A3 format that fit into a standard aluminium clip-frame. Contact us for your copies of the required posters: Info@law-at-work.co.za
| Unsubscribe from this newsletter Read more articles Law at Work (Pty) Ltd takes your privacy seriously and with the POPI Act coming into effect on 1 July 2021, we would like to ensure that we have your consent to keep sending email communication to you. No action is required if you’re happy to stay on our mailing list, but if you don’t wish to continue to receive our email communication, you can click on the link below to be removed. Please also note that you can in future opt out at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe button. Please click here to be removed. |