A new Private Members’ Bill is on the way to Parliament, looking for fairer salary and pay transparency for jobs in South Africa, including ending the use of past salaries to determine new ones.
Member of Parliament and Deputy leader of Build One South Africa (BOSA), Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster, gazetted her intention to table the draft Bill in Parliament.
The draft Bill aims to amend the Employment Equity Act (EEA) to eliminate certain employment practices that undermine “the constitutional and statutory objectives of equality and fair labour practice”.
These practices prevent the effective realisation of equal pay for work of equal value, Hlazo-Webster said.
Specifically, the bill would prohibit companies from inquiring about a candidate’s or applicant’s current or past salary to determine their salary upon appointment.
It would also promote pay transparency in employment practices by enforcing objective determinations of remuneration during job classification, grading, or evaluation processes.
The Bill also wants up-front disclosure of remuneration or a remuneration range that an employer intends to pay for any vacancy, internal promotion or transfer opportunity.
Finally, it wants to ensure employees have the right to request and share information about the range of remuneration for the position in which they are currently employed, or for the position for which they want to apply.
Hlazo-Webster noted that these provisions will help ensure that the principle of equal pay for equal value is followed fully in South Africa, in line with international law.
She said that South Africa has many protections in place in law to do this, including the EEA, the 2015 Code of Good Practice on Equal Pay/Remuneration for Work of Equal Value, and the 2025 Employment Equity Regulations.
“Despite these advancements, many employees continue to face employment practices that prevent the realisation of equal pay for work of equal value,” she said.
“The draft Bill is directed at two such practices that perpetuate cycles of economic exclusion.”
Employers hiding salary information
The first practice flagged by Hlazo-Webster is the widespread reliance on an applicant’s current or past salary to determine their salary in a new role.
She said that, through this, job applicants end up trapped by low wages for life, as their remuneration is based on previous salaries, tainted by historic bias. The second practice involves the lack of pay transparency in the job itself.
Hlazo-Webster said that employers are not determining the remuneration for every job or position on an objective basis.
Further, they are not disclosing proposed remuneration or clear remuneration ranges during recruitment and appointment processes. This, in turn, disempowers applicants for jobs, transfers and promotions.
“This is exacerbated if employees and applicants are not free to request or share remuneration information,” she said.
“A lack of pay transparency deters qualified applicants from applying for jobs, promotions and transfers, and limits their ability to negotiate fairly during recruitment and appointment processes.”
Hlazo-Webster said the combined impact of these practices keeps employees on low salaries to start and keeps them underpaid while employed.
“This entrenches inequality and diminishes trust in the labour market. Given South Africa’s history of pay discrimination, this impact is felt disproportionately along lines of race, gender and disability,” she said.
By prohibiting the reliance on current or past remuneration information and promoting pay transparency, the draft Bill accordingly seeks to encourage a job market that is more equitable and more competitive.
“It is a necessary step to break the systemic inequality that has defined the South African labour market and to move towards the constitutional promise of employment justice,” she said.
The draft Bill is available for public comment, and submissions open from 30 April 2026 for 30 days. Submissions can be made on the Fair Pay Bill website.
The full text of the Bill can be read below:
