Labour and Employment Minister Thulas Nxesi said on Sunday that the Unemployment Insurance Fund has so far processed relief payments to 862 550 workers to the tune of just over R3-billion since April 16.
The payments are meant to ease the pain of the salary shortfall as most companies are closed because of the coronavirus lockdown imposed by government in March.
If the application is complete, accurate and valid, at best the Department of Labour will process the payment within 24 hours, and at worst, within 48 hours.
Nxesi said despite these payouts, the Labour Department still feels that a lot more employers should be availing the funds to ease the burden not only to the businesses but also to the employees who are at home.
“We have at least 1.8-million employers on our database with the payroll to over 8-million workers. So far 59 168 employers have accessed the funds. We are still holding in abeyance just over a billion rand (R1 138 604 496.33) in funds that workers could potentially be paid depending on the information that still needs to be furnished to the fund,” said Nxesi.
“It is important that employers log in online and access our easy to follow claiming procedures at https://uifecc.labour.gov.za/covid19/ . We particularly appeal to the employers of domestic workers to ensure that they are not left behind and inconvenienced as a result of the lockdown.”
(Compiled by Inside Politics staff)
