Domestics ‘need more time for claims’
UNIONS for domestic workers and other civil society organisations said the deadline for domestic workers to apply for retroactive claims on injuries sustained at work was unreasonably short.
The compensation commissioner advertised, in a government gazette, that the cut-off date for the claims was November 20.
Domestic workers were included in the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (Coida), from November last year, in a judgment by the Constitutional Court. It also ruled that the order of constitutional validity was to have immediate and retroactive effect from April 27, 1994.
Social Economic Rights Institute (Seri) researcher Kelebogile Khunou said the public had not yet been made aware of the opportunity to remedy past injustices against domestic workers who had been injured, or dependants of those who have died.
“What is needed is for the subject of the inclusion of domestic workers in Coida and retroactive claims to be published in the media, for clear information about how to go about registering and how claiming will be handled; and, ultimately, for domestic workers to be assured that they will be assisted throughout the process.
“To do justice to the spirit of the judgment, it would be important to give adequate time to the entire process, which would include educating domestic workers who have retroactive claims, as well as their employers, about the steps that need to be taken,” said Khuno.
“Since we have not heard of any educational campaigns or efforts to encourage and support domestic workers who have claims, the injustices of the past will be perpetuated should the deadline for retroactive claims come and go,” he said.
SA Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (Sadsawu) general secretary Myrtle Witbooi said no domestic workers had yet claimed, as the process had to start with employers registering the workers.
United Domestic Workers of SA president Pinky Mashiane said it was unrealistic for the department to give domestic workers 12 months to claim for a right that they had been deprived of for 27 years.
“What is 12 months, for domestic workers who know nothing about Coida? We still have to educate them, go around the country and assist them, and it’s already May.
“We demand 36 months to reach all workers, educate them, and help them put in their claims. We started with the case of Mahlangu, in 2012, and only after eight years did we get justice – but they’re trying to put us in a corner, pressure us, and come up with an absurd, unreasonable, and irrational time frame,” she said.