Manpower Training Act, 1981 (Act No. 56 of 1981) > Chapter 6 : General Provisions > 51. Order upon employer to pay amount underpaid

Whenever an employer is convicted under section 50(1) of a failure to make any payment owing by him to any apprentice or trainee, the court convicting him shall determine the difference between the amount which the employer paid and the amount which he would have paid if the failure of which he has been convicted had not occurred, or, if no amount has been paid by the employer, the amount which he would have paid if the said failure had not occurred: Provided that if the court is unable on all the evidence, whether given before or after conviction, to determine the said difference or the said amount exactly, it shall, to the best of its ability, estimate that difference or amount, as the case may be.

2)	The difference or amount determined in terms of subsection (1), or the amount at which it is estimated in terms of the said subsection, is in this section referred to as the amount underpaid.

3)	The proceedings of the court under subsection (1) shall be taken before sentence is passed, and shall be deemed to form part of the trial.

After the court has in accordance with the provisions of subsection (1), determined or estimated the amount underpaid, the court shall order the convicted person to pay the said amount to an officer designated by the court (hereinafter referred to as the designated officer) within a period fixed by the court, in instalments or otherwise, as the court may determine.

5)	The court may at any time, upon the application of the person convicted and on good cause shown by him, extend the period within which the amount underpaid shall be paid to the designated officer, or vary the amounts of the instalments.

An order given in terms of the provisions of subsection (4) shall have the effect of, and may be executed as if it were, a civil judgment in favour of the Government of the Republic, and the designated officer shall pay any amount received by him in pursuance of the order to the apprentice or trainee in respect of whom the failure occurred, or if he is a minor, to his guardian.

7)	It shall not be a defence to a charge of a failure referred to in subsection (1) to prove that the failure with which the accused was charged is due to lack of means.

Any employer who is notified by an officer of the Department that any amount of money as determined by that officer is payable by the employer to any person by virtue of any condition of apprenticeship, contract of apprenticeship or notice in terms of this Act, and who admits that the amount so determined is payable by him, may pay that amount to the officer of the Department for paying over to the person concerned.

Any amount of money which has in terms of paragraph (a) been paid to an officer of the Department and which has, after the expiration of a period of six months as from the date on which it was received by him, not yet been paid over to the person to whom it was payable by the employer concerned, shall be paid into the State Revenue Fund.

c)	Money paid into the State Revenue Fund in terms of paragraph (b) may, on application made by the Director-General within three years as from the date on which it has been so paid into the said Fund, be paid to the Director-General for paying over to the person referred to in paragraph (b).