- BOSA leader Mmusi Maimane is targeting employment equity legislation.
- On Thursday, he presented new legislation that would prevent employers from asking for or relying on potential employees’ past payslips when they apply for jobs.
- It also proposes that every job advertisement be legally required to disclose a salary range.
BOSA leader Mmusi Maimane is introducing legislation that would prevent prospective employers from asking jobseekers for their payslips to determine remuneration packages based on previous employment.
In addition, should the party’s Fair Pay Bill be passed, jobseekers would be allowed to discuss a remuneration offer with other colleagues in a company to ensure that the offer is fair and equitable.
Maimane presented the proposed legislation at a press conference in Parliament on Thursday.
“The odds are stacked in favour of the employer, who holds all the power in determining salary, often based on a candidate’s previous pay, or on lower pay than the individual is entitled to. This imbalance perpetuates historical inequalities. Young people who are the first in their families to work white-collar jobs, black professionals and women often start their careers earning less than their counterparts.
“This is not a competence issue, rather it is due to the system that allows employers to exploit previous underpayment and first-time job application. When your salary history is used against you, past disadvantage becomes future injustice,” he said.
Maimane said the bill’s aim was to create a fair and transparent space for jobseekers to find jobs that pay them their worth.
The bill is pinned on four key issues and seeks to amend the Employment Equity Act.
- Employers will no longer be allowed to ask for or rely on jobseekers’ past payslips when they apply for jobs or when determining the salary. This common practice is one of the main drivers of ongoing wage inequality, says BOSA, adding that the bill ensures employees’ pay is based “on your value, putting an end to silent discrimination – be it gender, racial, age or geography”.
- Every job advertisement will be legally required to include a salary range. “This means no more guessing games, and no more undervaluing yourself or lowballing just to land a job. Job seekers will know what the job is worth before they apply. This will level the playing field for all and give power back to the jobseeker.”
- The bill aims to strengthen existing anti-discrimination provisions, basing pay on merit and not race, gender, age, “or where you come from”, says BOSA. “Skills, qualifications, and experience are rightly the central determining factors.”
- The bill would also grant potential employees the right to discuss a job offer or the remuneration, or its range, for a position with another employee.
Deputy BOSA leader Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster said the passing of the bill requires more than a parliamentary process.
She said the party would go on a campaign to “give the bill the best chance of receiving adequate and meaningful attention [from] lawmakers; we are taking this issue beyond the walls of the National Assembly”.
Once legally cleared, the bill will be published in the Government Gazette, giving the public an opportunity to review it and comment.
