Cape Town – A bill that will see contract workers, among others, being eligible to claim from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has been referred to the National Assembly.
The bill will also seek to discourage the practice of agencies charging a fee when claiming on behalf of beneficiaries so as to not leave a hole in the pockets of the already unemployed claimants.
Advocate Cornelius Phathela said this during a media networking session on various UIF programmes at the Imbizo Centre in Parliament, on Thursday.
“The bill was tabled before the Labour Portfolio Committee on 17 and 24 February 2016 and on 9 March 2016 and it was supported by Members of Parliament.
“The next step of the process is that the bill is still to be presented before the National Assembly for approval, and will then be ratified by the President,” Advocate Phathela said.
After the UIF Act was enacted in 2001, the fund initiated a process of making amendments in order to protect the benefits of the beneficiaries. This led to the draft of the UIF Amendment Bill being developed in 2013.
The bill was later approved by Cabinet, published for public comments and tabled to the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) for social partners to comment prior to the bill being certified by the Office of the State Law Advisor in October 2015.
Advocate Phathela said the bill makes several provisions to include the workers that are currently excluded from the Act, as well as complying with the Constitution by addressing the exclusion of civil servants in the current legislation.
This includes:
- Amending the act to extend UIF benefits to employees who are under contract of employment;
- Making a provision for the refinancing of the UIF beneficiaries to facilitate re-entry into the labour market and
- Ensuring that a provision is made for the payment of benefits to contributors like domestic employees, who lose part of their income due to reduced working times, to provide for a 66% fixed rate for maternity leave;
The amendment to the legislation will extend the period that contributors can submit a claim from six to 12 months. A contributor will also be entitled to illness benefits if the days of illness are less than seven days, which are being reduced from the previous provision of 14 days.
Phathela also said that the UIF Act was also being amended to make a provision for dependents, like the spouse of the deceased contributor, to be given 18 months to apply for benefits – which is a huge shift from the current provision of six months.
He said this was to allow those who remain in mourning for up to 12 months under restricted movement to be able to submit their claim after their period of mourning.
He said while the UIF recognises that agencies are generating business for claiming for benefits on behalf of beneficiaries, the act would be amended to prohibit any agencies or a person purporting to be acting on behalf of the contributor to charge a fee to applicants.
He said this was to avoid a situation where a fee reduces the size of the benefit that the employee would receive. – SAnews.gov.za
