COVID-19

• The State of Disaster has been extended to 15 April.
• The Department of Employment and Labour has gazetted:
  • a draft amended code of practice on managing workplace exposure to ‘notifiable medical conditions’
  • supplementary regulations to those already in force on hazardous biological agents, and
  • has issued a media statement drawing attention to what appears to be a link between the two documents.

 

WORKPLACE HARASSMENT

• The code of good practice in place since 2013 under the Employment Equity Act has been repealed and replaced. The new code provides a comprehensive section on the different manifestations of workplace harassment. These include:
  • unwanted conduct undermining a person’s sense of self-worth and dignity
  • deliberately creating a hostile and/or intimidating work environment for certain individuals or groups of people
  • discrimination, and
  • the abuse of power by various means.

 

HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

• Draft rental housing tribunal regulations have been gazetted for public comment.

 

FINANCIAL SECTOR CONDUCT AUTHORITY

• Once in force, a draft exemption recently released for public comment will free independent intermediaries from a legal obligation under Short-term Insurance Act Regulation 5.4, but
  • only in circumstances of ‘material misrepresentation or non-disclosure’ on the part of a policyholder to whom the insurer has already refunded premiums.

 

FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE CENTRE

• Three recently published reports assess the money laundering and terrorism financing risks apparently 'inherent' in the:
  • legal practice sector
  • estate agency industry, and among
  • Kruger rand dealers.

 

COMPETITION COMMISSION

• Guidelines have been gazetted with the intention of assisting ‘industry, government, trade unions, NGOs and other interested entities’ in identifying and implementing localisation initiatives ‘in a manner that does not raise competition concerns’.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby