Companies trying to meet the requirements Employment Equity Act need not dismiss white staff, Business Day reported on Friday.
Earlier this week the Johannesburg Labour Court ruled that the Act did not impose an obligation on an employee embarking on retrenchments to dismiss white, rather than African, employees.
The ruling in favour of computer company IBM came after an employee — who was retrenched in March 2005 — said her dismissal was unfair.
Josephine Thekiso submitted that she should have been retained under affirmative action because she was a black woman.
The court dismissed her claim holding that the Act did not establish an independent individual right to affirmative action.
It also ruled that the company was under no legal obligation when making an appointment or dismissal to give preference to suitably qualified employees from a designated group.
Talita Laubscher, a partner in employment law at a commercial law firm, said she wondered how the court would view the validity of an affirmative action measure contained in an employment equity plan permitting the employer ”to consider race and gender as factors during a retrenchment selection”.
It also remained to be seen whether the failure to act in accordance with such a plan would give affected individual the right of recourse to the Labour Court. — Sapa