The Employment Equity Act, 1998, renders unfair any act or omission involving the ‘unfair discrimination, either directly or indirectly’ against any employee or applicant on various grounds (race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, family responsibility, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, HIV status, conscience, belief, political opinion, culture, language and birth – or any arbitrary ground).

What the specified prohibited grounds have in common is ‘that they have been used in the past to categorise, marginalise and oppress persons who have had, or have been associated with these attributes or characteristics’ and ‘have the potential, when manipulated, to demean persons in their inherent humanity and dignity’.

A claim of unfair discrimination in the workplace arises only when two or more similarly situated employees are treated differently in any employment practice.

Employment practices include recruitment procedures; advertising and selection criteria; appointments and the appointment process; job classification and grading; remuneration; employment benefits and terms and conditions of employment; job assignments; the working environment and facilities; training and development; performance evaluation systems; promotion; transfer; demotion; disciplinary measures and dismissal.