Director of Employment Standards, Unathi Ramabulana has announce that there is a life line for employers and organised labour who cannot afford the National Minimum Wage.
Ramabulana was speaking on the second day of an advocacy seminar for business, business organisations and organised labour at Hotel Savoy in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, today, 28 June 2023.
The three daylong advocacy seminar themed “Paying the National Minimum Wage is the Right Thing to Do” is meant to educate, inform as well as address stakeholders’ concerns on National Minimum Wage Act, Basic Conditions of Employment Act, Unemployment Insurance Act and Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA) amendments as well as the role of the Commission for Conciliation and Arbitration in disputes related to all the mentioned laws.
She said employers who want to be exempted from paying the National Minimum Wage must first consult with every representative trade union and if no such union, the affected employees and thereafter they can apply at https://nmw.labour.gov.za or at any Departmental office.
“For an application to be considered, an employer who operates a business must provide full financial statements for the 3 years (current year predictions and the 2 previous years) and such other information that may be needed as prompted by the exemption system such as depreciation, finance costs, operating expenses, tax, dividends etc, to determine whether or not the employer can afford to pay the national minimum wage.
In respect of households, they must provide details of the annual household income and expenditure and any other information that may be needed as prompted by the system such as education, food and beverages, entertainment, loan repayments, travel costs etc, to determine whether or not the employer can afford to pay the national minimum wage,” Ramabulana said.
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Ramabulana however, warned employers that the law only allows exemption of not more than ten per cent and that an exemption can be withdrawn where “an employer provided false or incorrect information for the exemption, the employer does not comply with the exemption notice or where an employer’s finances have improved so that it can afford the NMW”.
The combined message from the Unemployment Insurance Fund, Compensation Fund and the CCMA was encouraging employers to comply as the cost of noncompliance is huge.
