Lee's Compliance

23/04/2021

TIME TO REFRESH YOUR PAIA MANUAL
Whilst many of us have got a PAIA Manual, which is held and managed by the Organization’s Information Officer and hopefully housed on the Organization’s website, all PAIA Manuals now have to be reviewed and amended in order to bring them in line with certain amendments which have been made to PAIA by POPIA, which amendments will come into force on the 1 July 2021.
These amendments, which are set out in more detail in the attached document headed: “Amendments to PAIA unpacked and explained and impact on one’s PAIA Manual”, are briefly as follows:

The Information Regulator has assumed responsibility for PAIA, which was previously regulated by the Human Rights Commission (HRC) - this means that references to the HRC under one’s PAIA Manual must be deleted and replaced with a reference to the Information Regulator;

All PAIA Manuals of entities in both the public and private sector, must now include details of the Personal Information which that Organization processes, including details of the types of Personal Information processed; the data subjects who provide the information; the reasons or purposes why such personal information is processed; who this information is shared with;
and the security controls which have been implemented in order to protect the confidentiality and integrity of such information;

PAIA Manuals must be made available on the Organization’s website and at its offices (the moratorium on the duty to compile a Manual and which applied to certain private companies will expire on 1 July 2021);

PAIA Manuals do not need to be published in the Gazette (this is only an option as per the original sections under PAIA) and will only have to be submitted to the Information Regulator on request (previously every entity had to lodge a copy of its Manual with the HRC);

The PAIA Manual must house the latest and up-to-date details of the entity’s Information Officer and where applicable, it's Deputy Information Officer/s;

The PAIA Manual must set out an internal complaints procedure and the consequences of non-compliance.

To assist with the amendments, we recommend that you take a look at our standard PAIA Manual template (attached), which highlights in red the areas which need to be updated in order to ensure that your organization complies with these latest requirements, effective 1 July 2021.

Yes… POPIA is getting real!

Contact [email protected] for further information.

16/09/2020

National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act: Technical guidelines for validation and verification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

17/08/2020

We are running some great Training Programs over the next 2 months - check out the following sites :

Outlines and registration forms will be loaded on this page as soon as it becomes available. Any queries may be directed to [email protected]

30/04/2020

LEVEL 4 RULES! or does it? HIGH LEVEL SUMMARY OF THE LEVEL 4 LOCK DOWN RULES. [extraction from the Gazette on lockdown regulations - complete PDF version of Gazette 432548- - 38 pages ] *Note-Regulation numbers not re...

02/04/2020

Organisations have widely implemented remote working arrangements in response to the Covid-19 crisis. Below we consider the practical implications of and solutions to remote working on the ex*****on of South African contracts.

26/03/2020

Stay updated with the Lee's Compliance Blog.

13/03/2020

BEE public procurement policies have long harmed the millions of unemployed and disadvantaged South Africans heavily dependent on state.

10/02/2020

The government should adopt a corporate income inequality tax rate and an exit tax on the wealthy who emigrate

07/02/2020

BCEA- PARENTAL LEAVE PROVISIONS EFFECTIVE
Commencement 1 January 2020

On 18 December 2019, President Ramaphosa announced that sections 1 to 7 of the Labour Laws Amendment Act of 2018 would come into effect on 1 January 2020. This effectively amends the Basic Conditions of Employment Act to provide for, inter-alia, the much-anticipated parental leave.



Responsibility Leave
The three days family responsibility leave that employees were entitled to upon the birth of a child, has been replaced with parental leave entitlement. The remainder of section 27 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (Family Responsibility Leave) remains intact, entitling employees to three days family responsibility leave when a child is sick (younger than 18 years of age) or alternatively upon the death of a family member as listed in the Act.

Parental leave
An employee is entitled to 10 days parental leave upon the birth of the employee's child. Parental leave may also be applicable in circumstances where an employee legally adopts a child or when a child is placed by a court in the care of a prospective adoptive parent. In this regarD, one must consider the definitions of adoptive and prospective adoptive parents. A “prospective adoptive” parent means a person that complies with the requirements set out in the Children's Act of 2005. A prospective adoptive parent therefore means: a person that is fit and proper to be entrusted with full parental responsibilities; that is willing and able to undertake, exercise and maintain those responsibilities; that is older than 18 years; and that has been properly assessed by an adoption social worker.

Based on the aforementioned it is evident that both male and female employees may qualify for parental leave depending on the circumstances. However, if the employee gave birth to the child, she will not qualify for parental leave. Such an employee is entitled to 4 months of unpaid maternity leave. Female employees may, however, qualify for parental leave in circumstances where such employee is one of the adoptive parents or a prospective adoptive parent as per the definitions above. For the purposes of adoption leave, the child must be younger than two years of age.

Adoptive Parental leave and Commissioning leave
Adoptive parental leave or commissioning leave entitles one of the parents to 10 weeks of consecutive unpaid adoption or commissioning leave. Only one of the parents may apply for such leave; the other will be entitled to parental leave.
Parental leave entitles an employee to 10 consecutive days to leave (not 10 working days): after the employee's child has been born; an adoption order has been granted by a competent court, ora child has been placed in the care of the prospective parent.

As indicated, the 10 weeks leave will be unpaid, and employees will, therefore, have to submit claims to the Unemployment Insurance Fund to qualify for payment during the periods of absence from work.

In terms of the Labour Laws Amendment Act, an employee is entitled to 66% of his or her regular earnings subject to the maximum income threshold as per the Unemployment Insurance Act. Contributors will not be entitled to be paid from the Unemployment Insurance Fund for adoptive or commissioning parental leave if they were not employed and contributing to the fund during the 13 weeks prior to applying for such benefit.

It is important to note that in order to qualify for the payment of parental leave benefits from the Unemployment Insurance Fund, a male employee will have to adduce proof of him being the father of the child by virtue of a birth certificate with his name and surname appearing on it.

A further requirement in terms of the Amendment Act is that an employee must notify his or her employer in writing of the date that such leave is to commence and when the employee will return to work. Such notice must be given one month before: the child is expected to be born, or the date that the adoption order will be granted, or when the child is placed in the care of a prospective parent.

“Employers are therefore urged to review their outdated policies and contracts of employment in so far as it relates to the provisions of the Labour Laws Amendment Act.”

07/02/2020

AARTO BEWARE

The Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act (AARTO) was amended in 2015 by way of a draft Bill which Bill was was finalised and signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa into law in August 2019.

Recent rumours and announcements have stated that the Act, as amended will be brought into operation in June 2020. *as per an announcement at the launch of Transport Month in Heidelberg in Gauteng in December 2019.

In light of this we have decided to provide our readers with a detailed breakdown of the Act, the amendments housed under the 2019 Amendment Act; and the draft Regulations which were published late last year for comment.

Click here to view the breakdown or send us a request for the article- at [email protected]

07/02/2020

ERGONOMIC REGULATIONS ARE HERE

The Minister of Employment and Labour published the Ergonomics Regulations, 2019 under section 43 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 (“OHSA”) for implementation on 6 December 2019.

The purpose of the Ergonomics Regulations, 2019 is to protect the health and safety of any person who may be exposed to ergonomic risks in the workplace.

A risk assessment must be conducted for all tasks where an employee is exposed to ergonomic risks, which must be reviewed every two years or where a reportable incident occurs or if an employee suffers an adverse health effect as a result of exposure to ergonomic risks.

Employers are required to establish a training programme for all employees exposed to ergonomic risks.

Employers must ensure that medical surveillance for ergonomics are incorporated into its existing medical surveillance system.

To view these regulations click here

ERGONOMICS REGULATIONS, 2019