We have previously written on the screening of employees to mitigate financial crimes. These screening requirements come as a result of Directive 8 and the Public Compliance Communication (“PCC 55”) published by the Financial Intelligence Centre (“FIC”). These make it compulsory for employers that are accountable institutions to periodically screen employees for competence and integrity, as well as to scrutinise employee information against the targeted financial sanctions lists, in order to identify, assess, monitor, mitigate and manage the risk of money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing.

Directive 8 and PCC 55 state that the screening of employees should be done in compliance with labour laws. Some of the important labour law factors that an employer will have to grapple with in complying with Directive 8 and PCC 55 include:

• ensuring that the screening does not unfairly discriminate against employees;
• what action to take if the screening reveals adverse findings; and
• following a fair procedure if the screening reveals adverse findings.

Protection against unfair discrimination

Employees and applicants for employment are protected from unfair discrimination by the Employment Equity Act, 1998 ("EEA"). This prohibits direct or indirect unfair discrimination in any employment policy or practice based on any listed or arbitrary ground. However, it is not unfair discrimination to distinguish, exclude or prefer any person based on the inherent...

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