National Guidelines in South Africa - Department of Labour

Code of Good Practice on the Protection of Employees During Pregnancy and After the Birth of a Child

Codes are issued by the Minister of Labour as required by paragraph 87(1)(b) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 1997. They are designed to provide guidance and information and are not strictly legally binding, although ss. 87(3) of the Act requires them to be taken into account by any person interpreting or applying the Act. The entire Code is of interest to female workers, and its contents are summarised in s. 3:

"This code:

3.1 sets out the legal requirements relevant to the protection of the health and safety of pregnant and breast-feeding employees;

3.2 sets out a method for assessing and controlling the risks to the health and safety of pregnant and breast-feeding employees;

3.3 lists the principal physical, ergonomic, chemical and biological hazards to the health and safety of pregnant and breast-feeding employees and recommends steps to prevent or control these risks. These are listed in Schedules One to Four, which are included for guidance and are not exhaustive."

Code of Good Practice on the Arrangement of Working Time

Issued by the Minister of Labour as required by paragraph 87(1)(a) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 1997. Guidelines important for women include:

1. Design of shift rosters must be sensitive to the impact on employees and their families, and their design may require information on the personal security of employees while commuting and childcare needs (see sections 4.2. and 4.2). Arrangements for shifts should be considered to accommodate the special needs of workers such as pregnant and breast-feeding workers and those with family responsibilities (section 5.6).

2. Adequate security at the workplace should be provided for night workers.

Employment Equity Code of Good Practice

This Code was issued by the Minister of Labour under s. 54 of the Employment Equity Act, and is meant to provide guidelines for the preparation and implementation of an employment equity plan. Under s. 7 of the Code, employment practices should be assessed in terms of gender fairness when developing an employment equity plan.

Under s. 8 of the Code, affirmative action measures should be developed as part of the employment equity plan, to remedy barriers to equality. The affirmative action measures should improve the under representation of certain groups. Steps should be taken to ensure that the corporate culture is transformed in a way that affirms diversity. This could include programmes in the workplace that raise awareness of employment equity and gender sensitisation.

The Department administers the following policies which include gender equity in employment:

1. An Employment Strategy Framework" (July 1998)
2. Social Plan: Human Resource Development for Job Creation (July 1999)
3. Creating Jobs, Fighting Poverty, an employment strategy framework" (June 1998)