PORTFOLIO COMMITTTE ON WOMEN, CHILDREN AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY MEETING

1. PORTFOLIO COMMITTTE ON WOMEN, CHILDREN AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY MEETING 22 AUGUST 2012 1

2. SCOPE • Legislative framework on employment of people with disabilities • Target for people with disabilities • Reasonable accommodation • Employment and empowerment of people with disabilities within DoL • Empowerment initiatives • Concluding remarks

3. LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK ON EMPLOYMENT OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES • Section (9(2) of the Constitution states that: “Equality includes the full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms. To promote the achievement of equality, legislative and other measures designed to protect or advance persons, or categories of persons disadvantaged by unfair discrimination may be taken” • Purpose of the Employment Equity Act is to: • achieve equity in the workplace by promoting equal opportunity and fair treatment in employment through the elimination of unfair discrimination; and • implementing affirmative action measures to redress the disadvantages in employment experienced by designated groups to ensure their equitable representation in the workplace.

4. LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK – cont… • Guidance is provided in the Code of Good Practice and the Technical Assistance Guidelines on the employment of people with disabilities. • EE Regulations with reporting forms are used to collect data on race, gender and disability to monitor and assess compliance. • Section 33 of the Act requires the CEE to submit an annual report to the Minister – a status report on the representation of the designated groups that is made public. • In terms of EE Act, suitably qualified means any one or combination of the following: formal qualification, prior learning, experience and the capacity to acquire the ability to do the job within a reasonable timeframe.

5. 2% TARGET FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES • EE Act does not allow for quotas – employers are required to set own EE targets and goals in their EE Plans after conducting a workplace analysis • Cabinet approved a 2% target for the Public Service by 2015 - No target was set for the Private Sector. • Disability representation was 0.8% in 2010 (11th CEE Annual report) – public & private sectors combined. • EE Director General Reviews, inspections and advocacy work is done to promote the employment of people with disabilities across all sectors of the economy. • DOL engaged the DTI to include a 2% and 3% target for people with disabilities in the EE element of the BBBEE Scorecard over a 5-year and 10-year period respectively to cover the Private Sector - (compliance with BBBEE Codes is voluntary).

6. REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION (RA) • Disability Code and its TAGs on the employment of people with disabilities provides guidelines on RA. • Purpose of RA is to assist people with disabilities to have equal access to or participate or advance in employment. • RA should not cause unjustifiable hardship, i.e. significant difficulty or expense. • Where RA is not provided, an applicant or employee is able to lodge a complaint with the CCMA or the Labour Court on grounds of unfair discrimination. • RA should be provided on a case-by-case basis depending on the nature and size of the organisation. • RA budgets are mainstreamed for the designated groups, including people with disabilities

7. Employment and Empowerment of PWD within DoL • As part of the Department’s strategy, the targets for People with Disabilities is specified and is translated into policy (to inform recruitment processes) and also into the EE Plan. • The Department has achieved and exceeded the national target of 2% for people with disabilities by 0.7% as 2.7% (188) are currently employed, and has further set its target to 3% across all occupational levels in the Department. Representation at SMS level is 2.4 %. • The Department implements the reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities guided by the Public Service handbook and its internal Integrated Policy on Gender, Disability and Youth; and also the Occupational Health and Safety Policy.

8. Employment and Empowerment of PWD within DoL • The Department is currently working on sourcing services for implementation of Accelerated Development Programme (ADP) targeting women and people with disabilities. This is also encapsulated in the HRD strategy of the Department • The Recruitment and Selection policy as well as the Employment Equity Plan make it compulsory and require that Employment Equity Representatitives be part of the shortlisting and interview processes, to observe and monitor whether managers/supervisors are shortlisting with the disability issues in mind as outlined in the Employment Equity Plan.

9. Empowerment Initiatives • The Department through the Public Employment Services Branch facilitates transfers to subsidised workshops for the blind and subsidised work centres for people with disabilities, and aims to improve the administration, production and financial control of Sheltered Employment Factories and Workshops. • The Sheltered Employment Factories were established with ownership vested on the State through the Department of Labour to provide employment and empowerment opportunities to people with disabilities who cannot compete in an open labour market. • Currently around 97% of the workers in our factories fit this profile. The SEF now has 12 factories across South Africa operating in 7 of the 9 provinces, with only Mpumalanga and Limpopo without a facility.

10. Empowerment Initiatives • The department has been instrumental in awarding subsidies to the amount of R722 000.00 to people with disabilities; and managed to place 241 people with disabilities in employment opportunities. • The Department has drafted various business proposals to organisations such as the W&R SETA, the FP&M SETA to propose the use of the Sheltered Employment resources and manufacturing background to help create jobs for not only people with disabilities, but for the youth as well. • The Department will be piloting a project with Basic Education in 3 Provinces to provide gainful employment to young people, provide them with skills and business management.

11. Empowerment Initiatives • The Department also facilitate increasing government procurement and other markets for good from Service Products ultimately leading to intake of people with disabilities to Sheltered Employment Factories. This initiative has seen an increase by 15% in sales from government and other markets.

12. CONCLUDING REMARKS • EE Act is being amended in order to, amongst others, strengthen its enforcement and compliance mechanisms. • Traditional methods of advertising vacancies could be a barrier to attracting people with disabilities – direct interventions, for example with disability organisations, also need to be explored by employers. • Some employers are being identified during DG Reviews for their good work on employment of people with disabilities, but more efforts still required.

13. THANK YOU