The manual Employment Equity Reporting deadline of 1 October 2010, set by the Department of Labour for companies intending to manually lodge returns and reports on their employment equity status, is drawing nearer.
Although the electronic deadline has not yet been confirmed by the department, companies intending to submit electronic returns will have more time, with the deadline likely to be mid-January 2011. The additional time allowed is to encourage companies to convert to electronic submissions.
Grant Lloyd, managing director of payroll and HR software specialist Softline Pastel Payroll, points out that companies with less than 150 employees but more than 50, who are required to submit only every second year, must send in their reports this year. Companies with more than 150 employees submit every year.
“The Department of Labour's annual EE Report for 2009-2010 highlighted a significant 30% increase in report submissions from 2007 to 2009,” says Lloyd. “It would appear that the no tolerance approach by the Employment Equity Commissioner has made an impact. The Director-General may apply to the Labour Court to impose fines on employers who do not comply.”
In July last year amendments were made to simplify the information required for the Employment Equity reporting process.
“This makes reporting easier and employers with payroll software that accommodates the amended reporting templates will find all of the information necessary to accurately complete the return resides conveniently in their payroll system,” says Lloyd. “This data can be automatically extracted and pre-populated into the required report formats.”
Companies using spreadsheets to compile reports must first ensure that the changes in reporting layouts applied last year have been accommodated so that their spreadsheet submissions are fully compliant and penalties are avoided.
Share