Eateries blitz: Labour department inspectors, Home Affairs and police officers unleashed on restaurants across South Africa
The Department of Employment and Labour has unleashed an intensive four-day multi-departmental blitz inspections of restaurants across South Africa, following reports of endemic exploitation in the sector.
“A multi-disciplinary team of Department of Employment and Labour inspectors will from today, (Tuesday) September 17, 2024 lead an integrated national blitz of the hospitality sector, targeting restaurants,” the national department said in a statement.
Department of Employment and Labour chief inspector for occupational health and safety (OHS), Milly Ruiters said the four-day inspection blitz will start from Tuesday and continue until Friday, and will also involve the South African Police Service, the Department of Home Affairs and the Bargaining Council.
Ruiters said there was nothing unique about the blitz, except that the restaurants in particular were becoming “a problem sector”.
“As part of our work, we normally conduct both proactive inspections and reactive inspections. In our strategy we have identified both problematic and high-risk sectors as a matter of focus,” said Ruiters.
During the intensive blitz, Ruiters said a total of the department’s 1,984 “boots will be on the ground” during the next four days.
The team of inspectors will test compliance in regard to Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), Occupational Health and Safety, Unemployment Insurance Act (UIA), Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA), Employment Services Act (ESA) and the National Minimum Wage (NMW) Act.
Ruiters said updates on the work of the inspectors deployed across South Africa will start to trickle in from Wednesday.
On Monday, IOL reported that a joint inspection operation carried out at Menlyn’s swanky Babel Restaurant and the nearby Ocean Basket has found both eateries owed their workers over R1.3 million in unpaid wages.
The Directorate of Priority Crimes Investigation (also known as the Hawks), Department of Home Affairs, Department of Employment and Labour and officials from the Bargaining Council raided the eateries on Sunday night, finding several pertinent issues regarding the non-compliance of the employers.
Both employers - Babel Restaurant and Ocean Basket - have been found to have not complied with the provisions of the National Minimum Wage Act.
The swanky Menlyn establishment’s employer failed to compensate the employees by the prescribed minimum wage rate for 2024/25 which is R27.58 per hour.
In a statement, the Ministry of Employment and Labour, Minister Nomakhosazana Meth said the Babel restaurant owed its employees an estimated R271,984 for cleaners, and R295,547 for waiters and waitresses, in underpaid wages.
Meth applauded the joint operation and said they had found that waiters were remunerated only on commission and tips at Babel restaurant Menlyn and some were remunerated with as little as R150 per shift, at a maximum of R300 per week, which is far below the National Minimum Wage.
The workers at Babel restaurant allegedly worked 12 and 15-hour shifts daily, which was in contravention of the daily and weekly rest periods provided for in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
IOL