Tag: Department of labour

DOL visiting local Businesses

DOL visiting local Businesses
Many local businesses have been visited by the Department of Labour (DOL) inspectors recently.A company reaches out to you to inform you of their poster sales for the Basic Conditions of Employment and Occupational Health and Safety Acts. You buy the set because you want to display the poster as prescribed. Then the Department of Labour arrives a few weeks later to examine your personnel documents, a week or so later an inspector from DOL comes and checks the safety conditions in your office.

Employers with less than 20 employees are exempt, according to the OHS Act. Sorry, but you have to follow all the regulations. DOL has doubts about the Certificate of Good Standing issued by the Occupational Commissioner and will, therefore, audit all companies, big or small.

The targeting of small and medium enterprises by DOL might be a coincidence, you decide. DOL’s approach puts more pressure on small businesses. According to DOL, employers are required to keep shop-purchased dish soap in a well-ventilated closet and you are prohibited from providing your staff with chairs without armrests. Comments like these make you ask yourself, “Why am I running my business?

Are there any resources available to help small and medium-sized enterprises? Can DOL award grants to assist all small and medium-sized enterprises in complying with its rules and regulations?

MCCI has always urged its members to comply with any regulations that apply to our businesses. If starting and running a business was made easier, there would be a significant increase in SMME growth and employment.

A new way for UIF to pay Covid19 Ters Benefits – directly to workers

A new way for UIF to pay Covid19 Ters Benefits – directly to workers

The Minister of Employment and Labour, Thulas Nxesi, today signed the order allowing the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) to implement a third extension of the Covid19 TERS benefit.

The UIF scheme will open on 19 July 2021, and payments will start on 26 July 2021.

However, there is one primary condition that has changed. Payments will be made directly into employees’ bank accounts rather than through their employers. Employers will still be expected to apply on their behalf.

The third phase will bring relief for the following categories of workers:

  • Workers who could not work from 16 March 2021 because Level 1, 2 and 3 restrictions prevent gatherings of a certain number of people – for example, in the entertainment industry;
  • Workers who were or are still affected by the Stage 4 restrictions that came into force on 28 June 2021; and
  • Workers who could not work during this period because they are over 60 or have comorbidities, and those who had to be isolated or quarantined.

The UIF has agreed to open the window for Phase 3 of Covid TERS to cover 16 March 2021 to 25 July 2021.

The qualifying sectors for Phase 3 of Covid TERS are listed in Annexure A of the Direction, including venues hosting auctions, professional sports, social events, and concerts and live performances. Annexure B includes all sectors affected by Level 4 lockdown restrictions, including restaurants, the liquor industry, hospitality and tourism, and all industries and business establishments that are part of these value chains.

Further operational details will be included in a letter sent directly to employers. The letter, along with the guidelines, will be available on both the TERS portal (www.uifecc.labour.gov.za) and the Employment and Labour website (www.labour.gov.za ).

 

Fast-track UIF

Fast-track extensive social security coverage for workers 

Employment and Labor Minister T.W. Nxesi said that government plans to accelerate broad social security coverage for workers in a press release. He called for a swift policy and legislative review to address the shortcomings of the Unemployment Insurance Fund and workers’ social safety net – as exposed by the Covid 19 pandemic.

Minister Nxesi also said that the pandemic “Taught us the value of social dialogue”, adding that Nedlac played a critical role in uniting social partners in a joint response to the pandemic – in designing income relief measures and health and safety guidelines for workplaces.

 Lamati said the fight against Covid19 requires joint leadership with all social partners. To date, Covid-19 has resulted in 57,000 fellow South Africans citizens dying due to the pandemic. Minister Nxesi said as part of the interventions; the government has been working with the social partners.

 “We have been able to mitigate some of the effects of the pandemic and the lockouts by using our social security institutions, especially the Unemployment Insurance Fund, and working with the business community and workers to create the Covid-19 Ters benefits and build a mass network to distribute the new benefits on an unprecedented scale,” he said.

 The minister said that through social security interventions through the UIF with Ters, the ministry started paying Covid-19 benefits from April 2020. The ministry had deployed its health and safety inspectors to assist the social partners in Nedlac in drafting the Covid-19 health and safety instructions and inspecting and enforcing the new regulations alongside existing health and safety regulations. Their targets were achieved with reduced budgets as the pandemic and economic development negatively affected government revenue.

 Nxesi said after the department appointed 500 additional health and safety inspectors, as announced during the 2019 budget vote, their addition would be very useful in the fight against Covid-19 and allow for a quadrupling of the number of inspections planned for 2021/22.

(A copy of the full press release is available at info@middelburginfo.com)