South Africa's Mandatory Income Differential (Pay Gap) Reporting — EEA4

Section 27 of South Africa's Employment Equity Act, 1998, requires 'designated employers' — those with 50 or more employees — to submit an annual Income Differential Statement (the EEA4 form) reporting pay differentials across occupational levels. The Employment Equity Amendment Act 2022 and accompanying 2025 regulations transferred oversight of this data from the former Employment Conditions Commission to the National Minimum Wage Commission, which is now mandated to analyse submissions and advise the Minister of Employment and Labour on further action. The revised EEA4 form, aligned with recent Companies Act amendments, opened its first reporting window from 1 September 2025 to 15 January 2026 via the EE Online Reporting platform.

The reporting duty sits alongside broader equal-pay protections in Sections 6(4) and 6(5) of the Act and the Code of Good Practice on Equal Remuneration, which the CCMA and Labour Court can enforce in individual disputes.

South Africa's gender pay gap is estimated at 23-35%, worse than the roughly 20% global average, and labour-law commentators are explicit that the reporting duty alone has not closed it: the Department of Employment and Labour's Director-General can flag non-compliance through workplace reviews, but labour inspectors have no direct power to impose remedies — only the CCMA and Labour Court can, and legal analysts have called for cases like this to be recognised honestly. Because the amended EEA4 cycle only opened in September 2025, no completed compliance results are yet public; this practice is included as a structurally significant but still-unproven reporting mechanism, not a demonstrated success.

Read the full analysis: https://bowmanslaw.com/insights/south-africa-unpacking-the-final-employment-equity-sector-targets5/