Domestic workers face R100 000 fine per undocumented worker under new Bill
The Employment Services Amendment Bill is open for public comment after Cabinet approval, and its penalties would reach into private homes as well as businesses.
Households that employ undocumented foreign nationals as domestic workers, gardeners or caregivers could face a fine of R100 000 per worker under the proposed Employment Services Amendment Bill, which Cabinet has approved and introduced to Parliament. The Bill is now open for public comment.
As CapeTown ETC reported on 22 September, the penalty structure would escalate. A first offence could attract R100 000 per undocumented worker. A second offence within three years could carry R200 000. Repeat or serious violations could attract fines of up to R1 million or possible imprisonment.
The penalties would apply to private households as well as businesses, which is the part most South Africans have not yet registered. Employing someone who is not legally permitted to work here is already unlawful under the Immigration Act. What the Bill adds is a fixed administrative penalty, and that penalty only takes effect if the Bill becomes law. Daily Maverick has stressed that the R100 000 figure is not currently in force, and that distinction matters for anyone reading the headline as a warning about today.
The Department of Employment and Labour has meanwhile intensified inspections targeting employers who fail to comply with immigration and labour laws. Deputy Minister Jomo Sibiya said the department would continue to conduct these inspections across the country, and warned that employers carry a responsibility to verify the documents of foreign workers before hiring them.
The Bill would also give government greater scope to regulate the employment of foreign nationals through sector-specific or geographic limits, and would strengthen enforcement mechanisms. IOL reported that the legislation is intended to strengthen labour inspections and prioritise South African citizens and permanent residents in recruitment.
For a household employing a foreign domestic worker, the immediate requirement is unchanged. The worker needs valid immigration documents, and those documents must authorise the person to work. That is the test today, not the penalty that may follow.
Public comment on the proposed legislation forms part of the parliamentary process before any new penalties can become law. Until that process concludes, the R100 000 fine is a proposal, not a bill a household can be handed.
Source: CapeTown ETC, New law could see SA households fined R100 000 per undocumented worker.
