Easier to apply for wage relief now
DELAYED: MAY APPLICATIONS HAVE NOT OPENED YET
Employers experience frustration when submitting claims.
Although several issues with the application and processing of the government-initiated Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (Ters) have been resolved, many challenges remain.
In addition, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has stated on its website that May applications for claims under the UIF Covid-19 Ters scheme have not opened yet.
Natalie Singer, executive consultant at Global Business Solutions, is hopeful that when the process for May starts, many of the problems experienced with the April applications will have been dealt with. She also suspects that the applications for May are being held back in order to clear the existing backlog.
Ters provides emergency relief for employers to claim benefits on behalf of their employees during the lockdown. The main frustration for employers claiming benefits under the scheme relates to the constant changes to the system.
However, it does appear as if the launch of the online application portal by the department of employment and labour has brought some relief. Applications are processed more quickly, and many employers have received payments for their workers.
Joon Chong, partner at law firm Webber Wentzel, says there has been a “significant improvement”, with claims being dealt with faster and payments being calculated more accurately.
The UIF has been working to fix its systems, to reprocess incorrect or rejected claims, and in dealing with further submissions in general, she says.
Chong adds that it would be ideal if the UIF could provide guidance on its website on how some of the issues employers and employees have been faced with can be resolved. Unfortunately, there is no streamlined process.
Issues around the conversion of employee data to comma separated value (CSV) files seem to have been corrected, says Singer.
The UIF now helps employers who are still experiencing problems uploading these files.
It also appears that the UIF had not been capturing the declarations submitted by employers – even before the rollout of the relief scheme – from the payroll reports. In other instances, employers only made declarations and payments to the South African Revenue Service.
Singer says employers uploaded their CSV files (with their employees’ data), but the UIF could not link them to the employer and they were therefore not paid the claimed benefits.
Many more of these problems have been sorted out, but Chong advises employers to check their status on the website daily to ensure files that were uploaded reflect as “captured”.
A further amendment, which was signed at the end of last month but has not yet been gazetted, provides for employees to apply for the Ters benefits themselves:
If they are required to take annual leave during the continued lockdown period;
Where there is no bargaining council agreement with the employer; and
Where the employer has not applied for Ters benefits for the individual.
Singer says this can be done on the uFiling website and will require some additional information declaring that the individual has been laid off or that they are not able to work.