How To Get Your Due

Here’s everything you need to know about claiming for UIF and Ters

- Lesego Seokwang

Long before Covid-19 entered our vocabulary and our lives, South Africa’s unemployment rate was already devastatingly high.

And now following a lockdown that decimated our economy, many have lost their jobs or are waiting to hear their fates, or they know someone who’s lost their livelihood.

But there’s a lifeline for those affected in the form of the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s Covid-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (Ters).

Here’s everything you need to know about claiming from both the UIF and Ters.

WHO QUALIFIES FOR UIF AND TERS?

UIF

All workers who have contributed to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) qualify for its benefits if they lose their jobs, provided they’ve worked more than 24 hours a month, says labour lawyer Craig Berkowitz.

You must also register with the department of labour as a job seeker and you must apply for UIF benefits within six months of the termination of your employ­ment.

“The only people who aren’t entitled to UIF include members of parliament, cabinet ministers, members of provincial legisla­tures and municipal councillors,” Berkowitz says.

TERS

All contributors to the UIF whose jobs have been affected as a direct result of Covid­19 are entitled to claim from Ters, says Caleb Asiedu of labour law experts Maphosa Attorneys.