Employment Services Amendment Bill: Committee Calls for Public Comments

Posted 21 September 2026 Written by Acts Online
Category Labour

Brought to you by SA Legal Academy: Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour has published a call for written public submissions on the Employment Services Amendment Bill, setting a submission deadline of 6 November 2026.

The draft Bill, introduced to Parliament following approval by Cabinet in May 2025 and formal tabling in May 2026, proposes key amendments to the Employment Services Act, No. 4 of 2014. The proposed statutory framework establishes legal mechanisms to regulate the employment of foreign nationals across South Africa’s labor market.

Key Statutory Provisions

Once enacted and brought into operation, the Bill will empower the Minister of Employment and Labour to:

  • Set sectoral, occupational, and location-specific numerical quotas for the employment of foreign nationals;
  • Establish statutory obligations and due diligence requirements for employers prior to recruiting foreign nationals, including labor market testing; and
  • Prescribe compliance frameworks and reporting duties concerning workforce composition and nationality profiles.

Submissions must be delivered to the Committee secretariat by no later than 6 November 2026 to be considered during parliamentary deliberations.

What this means for you, your business, or your clients

  • For yourself: Legal and HR advisory practitioners must prepare to review client workforce demographics and update advisory notes regarding impending statutory foreign national recruitment quotas.
  • For your business: Assess the citizenship and work-authorization composition of your existing staff complement to anticipate sectoral quota exposure and review recruitment compliance procedures ahead of formal enactment.
  • For your clients: Advise corporate employers employing expatriates or cross-border specialists to prepare written comments by 6 November 2026 and audit current reliance on foreign personnel to gauge financial and operational risk under future ministerially determined quotas.

Originally published at https://legalacademy.co.za/news/read/employment-services-amendment-bill-parliamentary-committee-calls-for-submissions

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