Moneyweb reports that the Labour Court in Cape Town has ruled that Eskom’s practice of not shortlisting members of non-designated groups for advertised posts amounts to an absolute barrier and is not an affirmative action measure as contemplated by the Employment Equity Act (EEA).

Judge Hilary Rabkin-Naicker on Friday further ordered that “Eskom must take remedial steps to ensure that the said practice ceases”. Rabkin-Naicker issued these orders in a judgment to an application brought by Solidarity on behalf of Mr Altus Erasmus. The judgment referred to the fact that Erasmus was shortlisted for a post graded on Eskom’s “M16 Grade” because he described himself as “African” on the application form, and confirmation from Eskom officials that Erasmus would not have been shortlisted “in that round” of the application process if he had described himself as a “white male”. Rabkin-Naicker pointed out that there was no dispute that a white male, in terms of Eskom’s practice of implementing its affirmative action measures, had no possibility of being shortlisted for the post in question. “It appears to the court that the inflexible and blunt instrument practiced at the shortlisting stage must be recognised as an absolute barrier to the ability of members [of] non-designated groups to compete with employment equity candidates from the inception of a recruitment process,” she stated. Rabkin-Naicker ruled that Eskom had “unfairly discriminated” against Erasmus and ordered it to pay him compensation equal to 18 months of his salary at the time he applied for the post of manager for site outage execution at a peaking power station for Eskom’s group technology division. In regard to the relief sought by Solidarity and Erasmus, Rabkin-Naicker said the court would not usurp the role of the employer and promote Erasmus.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Roy Cokayne at Moneyweb

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