Employment equity report: EEA2 and EEA4, filed properly

What the law asks of a designated employer

• Who it applies to. Since 1 January 2025 a designated employer is any employer with 50 or more employees, any organ of state, and any employer designated by a collective agreement. The turnover test was repealed by the Employment Equity Amendment Act of 2022.
• Report every year, section 21. The EEA2 report and the EEA4 income differential statement go in together on the Department’s online system between 1 September and 15 January. Hand delivered reports close on the first working day of October. The CEO or accounting officer must verify and authorise the report, and nothing can be changed after submission.
• Consult, section 16 and 17. Consult a representative union or, where there is none, employees across all levels and groups, on the analysis, the plan and the report.
• Analyse, section 19. Every employee completes an EEA1 declaration, and the workforce and the employment policies are analysed on the EEA12 template to find the barriers.
• Plan, section 20. A five year plan on the EEA13 template for 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2030, with annual targets at the top four occupational levels that comply with the sector targets, goals at the semi skilled and unskilled levels, and 3% for employees with disabilities. Compliance is assessed against the annual targets.
• Assign, display, keep. A senior manager is assigned to the plan (section 24), the EEA3 summary of the Act is displayed at the workplace (section 25), and the plan, the report and the records are kept for five years (section 26).
• Fines. A first failure to plan or report is R1 500 000 or 2% of turnover, whichever is greater, rising to R2 700 000 or 10% for repeat failures, imposed by the Labour Court on the Director General’s application.

Why 2026 is different

Until now a report was a filing. From this cycle it is a test. The Minister published numerical targets for eighteen sectors on 15 April 2025, and the Department has said that the 2026 reports are the first assessment of every designated employer against them. Three things follow:

• State contracts need the certificate. Since 1 January 2025 any employer tendering to an organ of state must attach an Employment Equity compliance certificate. For a designated employer the Minister issues it only if the targets are met or reasonable grounds are shown, a report was submitted, and there is no unfair discrimination or minimum wage finding against you in the past twelve months. No certificate is issued unless the previous year’s report was compliant.
• Reasonable grounds must be written down. The Regulations name them: insufficient recruitment or promotion opportunities, insufficient people from the target group with the required qualifications, a CCMA award or court order, a transfer of business, a merger, and economic conditions. A shortfall with a documented reason is defensible; a copied report is not.
• The income differential matters. The EEA4 now asks how many times the top 10% earn more than the bottom 10%, the median, and what policy you have to close the gap. It goes to the National Minimum Wage Commission.

What is included

Employment equity report, R2 990, up to 150 employees.

• Your payroll turned into the EEA2 workforce profile: every employee by occupational level, race, gender, disability and foreign national status, with the current year targets alongside
• The movement tables for the year: recruitment, promotion and termination by level and group
• The skills development table, built from your training records or your workplace skills plan if we file that too
• Your sector’s five year targets and your annual targets for next year set out in section E, with the justifiable reason recorded for any level where the target was missed
• The EEA4 income differential statement: remuneration by level and group, the highest and lowest earners, the top 10% to bottom 10% ratio and the median
• Every section delivered in the order and wording of the online system, so your manager captures it screen by screen, or we capture it with you on a screen share in under an hour
• The CEO declaration, the consultation record and the submission receipt filed in your client portal, with a reminder diary for next year’s window

Report and five year plan, R4 990. Everything above, plus:

• The EEA1 declaration form issued to every employee and the responses collected
• The EEA12 workforce analysis against the national or regional economically active population, with the barriers identified by policy area
• The EEA13 plan for the period to 31 August 2030: objectives, affirmative action measures, annual numerical targets per level that comply with your sector’s targets, the senior manager assigned, time frames and the monitoring method
• The consultation pack: a constitution for the employment equity committee, the notice to employees and the minutes template, so the section 16 consultation is on record
• The EEA3 summary of the Act for display at the workplace

Compliance certificate request for an employer under 50 staff, R490. The EEA15 declaration of compliance with the unfair discrimination chapter and the National Minimum Wage Act, prepared and lodged on the Department’s system for the EEA16B certificate that state tenders ask for, valid twelve months.

What we do not do

• We do not log in as you. The system activates only the CEO and the assigned manager, and the CEO must authorise the report personally. We prepare, you capture and submit, or we capture together on a screen share with you present.
• We do not promise the certificate. It is the Minister’s decision on the criteria in section 53. We make sure the report gives you the best case.
• We do not chair your committee. We set it up and give you the documents; the consultation is yours to hold.
• We do not advise on individual discrimination disputes. That is a labour lawyer’s work.
• Over 150 employees is quoted in writing first, because the data and the consultation take longer.

How ordering works

1. Order online with the button below and pay securely by card or instant EFT (PayFast), or wait for the EFT invoice. Order by 30 November for a comfortable 15 January submission.
2. Complete the questionnaire in your client portal and upload your payroll export, last year’s report if there was one, and your training records. We send you the employee declaration form to circulate if you ordered the plan.
3. We prepare the report, the analysis and the plan and send them to you for the consultation and the CEO’s approval, with a written note on every target and reason.
4. Your manager captures the approved report on the online system from our pack, or we capture it together on a screen share, and the CEO presses submit. The receipt goes into your portal and the certificate request follows where you qualify.

Not sure whether you are a designated employer, or which sector’s targets apply? Ask us first and you get a written answer within one business day.

What we will need from you

• A payroll export with every employee’s job title, race, gender, date of birth, nationality, disability status and annual remuneration. We map the occupational levels.
• Starters, promotions and leavers for the reporting year, 1 September to 31 August.
• Training records for the year, or your workplace skills plan.
• Last year’s EEA2 and plan if you have reported before, and your Department reference number.
• The CEO’s and the assigned senior manager’s names and email addresses. The system activates them; we never ask for their passwords.
• The union, if there is one, and who sits on the employment equity committee.

Frequently asked questions

Usually ordered with it

• WSP and ATR submission, R1 990. The training data in both reports comes from one place.
• B-BBEE affidavit, R490. For a business under R10 million turnover the affidavit replaces the scorecard.
• Tender ready pack, R890. CSD registration, tax compliance and the documents a state tender asks for alongside the certificate.
• Employer Admin pack, R2 390. The UIF, Compensation Fund and SARS registrations for an employer that is still setting up.