A Department of Employment and Labour workplace inspection blitz on the hospitality sector, has uncovered widespread legislation non-compliance by some employers in the Western Cape’s Garden Route.

The grim picture was painted by the department’s Advocate Caroline Kwetepane during a webinar on labour law compliance in the hospitality sector in the province. The department’s Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) last week conducted a blitz in the Mossel Bay and Knysna regions from 16 to 20 August.

Presenting the findings of the blitz, Kwetepane said the inspections focused on compliance with the National Minimum Wage (NMW) Act and the Basic Conditions of Employment (BCE) Act.

Some of the areas were non-compliance was identified in the sector include: illegal deductions; underpayment of national minimum wage; non-compliant written particulars of employment (contracts); long hours of work and non-registration to the Unemployment Insurance Fund and Compensation for Occupation Injuries and Diseases Act.

The blitz saw inspectors visit 64 workplaces.

“Of these, 44 were found to be compliant and 20 were found to be non-compliant with the BCE and the national minimum wage. They were issued with notices of enforcement for employers to correct.

“The contraventions that were identified [included] non-compliance with the NMW. They did not provide employees with contracts of employment. They fail to keep copies of the act at premises for employees to be able [read] that the Basic Conditions of Employment apply to them in the industry,” she said.

Beyond this, she said employers “fail to keep records that are required by the department in terms of the BCE, and in some cases employees were not given information pertaining to their remuneration”.

Inspectors also conducted assessments to determine compliance with the requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS)  Act requirements.

“We visited 64 workplaces and out of those, only 17 were found to be compliant and 47 found to be non-compliant. We issued notices for employers to correct the non-compliance. On OHS, only 27% were compliant, meaning over 73% were non-compliant.

Beyond this, inspections found that several employers did not have sufficient fire safety equipment.

“This means that if a fire were to break out, they would not have the necessary means to [extinguish] that fire,” she said.

Other contraventions included employers not screening staff for COVID-19 as they entered the premises, as per government regulations.

Inspectors, she said, also reviewed for compliance with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) employer contribution. In this regard, the teams scrutinised 77 employers.

“Out of the 77, only 25 were found to be compliant. We issued 52 notices. We found that employers failed to register employees and those that did, failed to register employees, failed to contribute to the fund.

Another area of concern identified by inspectors was that employers were also not complying with the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act.

She said employers did not provide employees with certain particulars of employment in that contract of employment.

Source: South African Government News Agency