Beauty and Isaac the presenters of Rea Fahloloha show interviewed Mantua and Bonny about the UIF during the CJN slot.
What does UIF stand for?
Unemployment Insurance Fund
When can a person claim from the UIF?
People can only claim unemployment benefits if they have been dismissed or retrenched or if the contract has expired. They cannot claim if they have resigned from the job.
Who can claim from the UIF Fund?
Employees who are registered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and who have been contributing to the Fund can claim.
What kind of benefits that the UIF covers?
The UIF covers five kinds of benefits namely:
• Unemployment benefits;
• Illness benefits;
• Maternity benefits;
• Death benefits
When can one claim illness benefits?
People can claim illness benefits when they are off work due to illness for a period longer than two weeks.
How does the maternity benefit work?
Maternity benefits can be claimed if a person is pregnant and take maternity leave. They can take maternity leave at any time from four weeks before the expected date of birth and may not work for a period of six weeks after the birth.
How much money can the workers claim?
• If the employee has been contributing to the Fund for four years or more, then they can claim for up to 238 days.
• If the employee has been contributing for a shorter period, then they can claim 1 day for every 6 days worked while were contributing to the Fund.
• If a person takes maternity leave, she can only claim up to 121 days.
• The Fund pays a percentage of the wage/salary that a person earned while they were contributing to the fund. The highest amount that can be paid is 58% of what a person earned per day.
How to claim UIF, where to start?
There are different procedures for claiming the various benefits available:
Unemployment benefits
Illness benefits
Maternity benefits
Adoption benefits
Death benefits
What forms are needed?
If people want to claim from the Fund, they must go to the nearest Department of Labour. There you will be asked to sign the unemployment register, be told when they need to come back and sign the register again and they will sign every four weeks to show that they still need to claim the UIF benefits.
If everything is in order, the UIF applicants should start getting money from the Fund within eight weeks of registering. The money will then be paid every four weeks, until all the benefits are used up. They will receive a slip every time they receive money so that they can see how much they have received and how much they can still get.
What documents are needed to claim from the Fund?
To claim unemployment benefits you need to have:
• a copy of 13-digit bar-coded identity document
• a copy of your last six pay-slips
• information supplied by your employer (UI19)
• a service certificate from the employer
• proof of registration as a work seeker
• a fully completed registration form
• proof of your banking details
A child of the deceased worker can claim by completing Form UF127 and submitting it at the Labour Centre. (Caregiver or guardian or a relative may assist)
They will need:
• a copy of your identity document
• copies of the last six pay-slips of the deceased
• information supplied by the employer on form UI19
• a service certificate from the employer.
• a certificate copy of your (the child’s) birth certificate
• proof of your banking details.
• a certified copy of the death certificate
• proof of guardianship
• proof that you (the child) are a learner who was dependent on the deceased.
The Labour Office will supply a form called UF128, which needs to be filled in by the deceased’s last employer and then submitted at the Labour Centre. The death benefit is the amount that the worker could have claimed if they were unemployed. This is paid out in one payment.
For more information, please visit www.labour.gov.za
