Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) concerned that employees may be missing out on benefits because of missing information
Hundreds of thousands of employees who may qualify for COVID-19 Temporary Employer / Employee Relief Scheme benefits may not receive their due because companies have either not applied on their behalf or have not corrected the information to enable the UIF to pay timeously.
The UIF is concerned that as of today, 220 768 employees who collectively may be entitled to as much as R927 694 773 in benefits have their payments delayed pending verification by the employers because some of the beneficiaries either do not appear in the UIF’s system or the information given is insufficient.
“When we receive applications from employers, we verify the information to ensure that the employees they are claiming for appear in our system. When we identify inconsistencies, we send the enquiry to the employer for verification,” said the UIF Commissioner, Teboho Maruping.
In total over 77 000 employers have submitted applications. After the verification, the UIF has paid R2.2-billion (R2 241 402 841.96) for COVID relief benefits and R838 699 117.41 for normal benefits from 16 April 2020 to date.
Companies that are facing distress and contribute to the UIF should apply through https://uifecc.labour.gov.za/covid19/ for assistance and those companies that were not registered with the UIF by March 15, 2020 may not apply as they would not qualify.
The fund has also emphasised that all businesses with employees, from spaza shops to hair salons who are registered with UIF can apply for this relief. Even employers of domestic workers should also apply for the relief as domestic workers are included in the UIF.
Unfortunately, commission earners and freelance employees are not contributors to the UIF and therefore, they do not qualify for this benefit.
The money is being paid either through employers, bargaining councils, employer associations or directly to employees.
The Commissioner stressed that while the employer has the right to let employees stay at home for the period of the lock down, they still need to assist them to apply for the Covid-19 TERS benefits so that employees do not lose income.
Whilst the UIF remains concerned with companies that refuse to claim on behalf of their employees, it welcomes the effort of all those companies who have heeded the call and claimed on behalf of their employees. Once again the UIF wishes to encourage all those companies that might be encountering challenges with applications to contact our offices.
Enquiries:
Teboho Thejane
Cell: 082 697 0694
