Employment Equity Act (EEA) is set to undergo change to extend the protections of employees against all types of harassment.
According to Department of Employment and Labour, Director of Collective Bargaining Stephen Rathai said in terms of the proposed amendments to labour law Section 10(6)(aA) the EEA is to be amended by deleting the word (sexual) harassment to extend the protections of employees against all types of harassment (e.g. workplace bullying, online harassment; sexual harassment; racial & ethnic harassment; racial harassment; etc).
“After the amendments harassment will not limit only to sexual harassment,” Rathai said: “the intention is to broaden all forms of harassments to deal with conflict in workplaces”.
Another amendment of EE Act is the empowerment of Bargaining Councils to also deal with unfair discrimination disputes emanating from the EEA – if the Bargaining Council has been accredited to deal with these disputes or the Collective Agreement caters for such.
In summary the key objectives of EE amendments are to broaden harassment protections beyond sexual harassment and improve access to dispute resolution of all unfair discrimination through the CCMA and bargaining councils.
In terms of the current EEA – a dispute may be referred to institutions such as Labour Court for adjudication and CCMA for arbitration – if the employee alleges unfair discrimination on the grounds of sexual harassment; or in any other case, that employee earns less than the amount stated in the determination made by the Minister in terms of section 6(3) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
Rathai was speaking during the in Gqeberha during an EE workshop held at Bay Mall today (20 August 2026).
The gathering is part of 2026 national roadshows/workshops focusing on presentation of 2025 provincial EE status (26 th CEE Annual Report) and presentation on Draft Amended Code of Good Practice; practical demonstration of how to utilise the EE System online facilities to capture EE Reports and request EE Certificate of Compliance; sharing of all types of unfair discrimination cases administered by the CCMA; and presentation on broader proposed labour law amendments.
Rathai said the intention of labour law amendments is to ensure that institutions dealing with dispute resolution in the labour market are taken seriously.
The remaining EE workshops will be held in Gauteng (25 August 2026 – Pretoria; 27 August 2026 – Johannesburg/Woodmead); and Free State (01 September 2026 – Bloemfontein).
For media inquiries, please contact: Teboho Thejane, Departmental Spokesperson: 082 697 0694/ teboho.thejane@labour.gov.za
