Exemption from Understudy Provisions
Preferential treatment of designated group 19.
(1) In filling positions of employment a relevant employer shall give preferential treatment to suitably qualified persons of designated groups.
(2) Where two or more suitably qualified candidates from designated groups qualify for a position of employment, the employer shall give priority - (a) (b) to a candidate who is a Namibian citizen; or if all such candidates are Namibian citizens, to the candidate who belongs to more than one designated group.
(3) Subject to subsection
(4), a relevant employer shall, with due regard to the purposes of this Act, train a Namibian citizen as the under study of every non-Namibian citizen employed by him or her or it.
(4) The Minister may, upon application in writing by a relevant employer referred to in subsection (3), and after consultation with the Minister of Higher Education, Vocational Training, Science and Technology and the Labour. Once a relevant employer, who employs a non-Namibian employee, is unable to appoint a Namibian understudy, such a relevant employer must do as follows:
Apply for exemption from complying with such understudy provisions to the Minister of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation (See appended templates).
Such an application shall be made within a period of 90 days from the date of appointment of a non-Namibian employee.
Where such a relevant employer is unable to submit such exemption application to the Minister within a period of 90 days, such a relevant employer shall submit an application to the Employment Equity Commission for the extension of such a period.
Make regular enquiries on the status of such exemption application/s.
Furnish the Employment Equity Commission with the outcome of such an exemption as soon the employer receives it.
Comply with the conditions attached to the exemption from compliance with the understudy provisions..