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State Information Technology Agency Act, 1998 (Act No. 88 of 1998)

Chapter 4 : Staffing of Agency

15. Staff of participating departments

 

(1) If a department or public body concludes a business agreement for the acquisition of a service contemplated in section 7(1)(a) or (b), the Agency must, on the date stipulated in that agreement, make an employment offer to every practitioner of that department or public body who is responsible for information technology functions in respect of that service, unless the Agency, practitioner and department or public body agree otherwise.

[Subsection (1) substituted by section 8 of Act No. 38 of 2002]

 

(2) The offer will be subject to the following principles:
(a) The total remuneration package, including the comparable monetary value of the service benefits due to them, offered by the Agency, may not be less than those payable or due to them by the previous employer immediately prior to their transfer to the Agency, but the remuneration package must be reconsidered within six months after the offer was made to employees contemplated in section 3(4);
(b) all vested rights accrued to the employee must be acknowledged and transferred from the previous employer and associated funds to the Agency;
(c) transfer of Infoplan employees who are members of a pension fund registered in terms of the Pensions Fund Act, 1956 (Act No. 24 of 1956), must be done in terms of section 14 of the said Act;
(d) prior to the transfer of the personnel, an agreement must have been reached among the current employers, the Agency and the Minister, and with the concurrence of the Minister of Finance, where applicable, as to whether—
(i) certain benefits such as accrued leave and sick leave should be wholly or partially carried over to the Agency; or
(ii) the monetary value of such benefits should be payable wholly or partially to an employee prior to transfer,

and the agreement must furthermore stipulate which portion of the costs of the transferred benefits are carried by the previous employer and which portion by the Agency;

(e) the agreement must also deal with the handling of any contractual obligation between the employer and the employee;
(f) the offer will only be made to employees who are in the service of the respective employers at the time of the conclusion of the agreement;
(g) personnel in the service of the State and to whom an offer is made and who accept that offer, will not be entitled to voluntary severance package;
(h) an officer who is a member of the Government Employees’ Pension Fund and who is employed by the Agency may—
(i) choose to become a dormant member of such Fund, and from the date of exercising such a choice, such an officer must, despite the provisions of any other law, be regarded to be a dormant member of the Fund; or
(ii) choose to remain a  member of the Fund, in which case the Agency will be responsible for the employer’s contribution to the Fund; or
(iii) request to become a member of any other approved pension fund and withdraw from the current Fund in accordance with the Government Employees Pension Law, 1996 (Proclamation No. 21 of 1996).

 

(3)

(a) The Minister or any other Minister may, at the request of the Agency, second an officer to the Agency in accordance with section 15(3) of the Public Service Act, 1994.
(b) For as long as that officer is seconded to the Agency, the Agency must reimburse the relevant department for the remuneration and allowances paid by the department to that officer, and for any other moneys spent by the department on the officer’s other service benefits and any other costs to the department arising from the secondment of that officer to the Agency.