Build One South Africa (Bosa) has launched a bid to compel employers to disclose the salary packages of advertised posts and prevent them from relying on past remuneration when making job offers.
In a private members’ bill, Bosa MP Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster said the bill — intended to amend the Employment Equity Act — seeks to “eliminate certain employment practices that undermine the constitutional and statutory objectives of equality and fair labour practice and that prevent the effective realisation of equal pay for work of equal value”.
Hlazo-Webster said the bill would ban employers from asking about an applicant’s current or past salary to set pay, while forcing them to disclose upfront the salary or pay range for any vacancy. “Job applicants remain entrapped by low wages for life if prospective employers determine their remuneration based on previous salaries tainted by historic bias. The second issue involves the lack of pay transparency in employment practices,” the bill reads.
Not determining the remuneration for every job or position on an objective basis and not disclosing proposed remuneration or clear remuneration ranges during recruitment and appointment processes disempowers applicants for jobs, transfers and promotions. This is exacerbated if employees and applicants are not free to request or share remuneration information.
“A lack of pay transparency deters qualified applicants from applying for jobs, promotions and transfers, and limits their ability to negotiate fairly during recruitment and appointment processes. It builds on the existing provisions of the act that seek to promote equal pay for work of equal value. It reinforces the principle that the value of work must be assessed on an objective and rational basis by requiring the same approach when remuneration is determined.”
By prohibiting the reliance on current or past remuneration information and promoting pay transparency, the draft bill accordingly seeks to encourage a job market that is more equitable and more competitive
— Bosa MP Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster in private members’ bill
The move by Bosa is likely to face pushback from employer organisations. This is the second bid by Bosa to promote pay transparency. Last year, the party tabled the Fair Pay Bill aimed at eradicating salary discrimination.
Hlazo-Webster, in the bill published in the government notice on Thursday, said the combined impact of relying on current or past remuneration information and the lack of pay transparency reduces mobility for talented individuals and contributes to their underpayment once employed.
“This entrenches inequality and diminishes trust in the labour market. Given South Africa’s history of pay discrimination, this impact is felt disproportionately along lines of race, gender and disability.
“By prohibiting the reliance on current or past remuneration information and promoting pay transparency, the draft bill accordingly seeks to encourage a job market that is more equitable and more competitive,” the bill reads.
“It seeks to address persistent salary disparities based on race, gender and disability by creating the opportunity for previously disadvantaged applicants to escape the impact of past pay discrimination through prohibiting reliance on their current or past pay.
“It empowers all applicants for jobs, transfers and promotions by reducing information asymmetry and protecting their right to request and share remuneration information. The draft bill aligns with the growing international trend of jurisdictions that have passed and implemented salary history bans and laws that compel pay transparency to expose and eliminate disparities.”
Business Times
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