Covid-19 - UIF process for Electrical Contractors

[ians]

Everyone I have been in contact with (not linked to NBCEI) have either already been paid or have been notified of a payment due to them.

MY wife for example has not yet received her payment ...however ...when she logs on ...there is a notification on the TERS site indicating that a payment to the company was made on the 27/05/2020

Apparently she has been informed by the company that she will be paid this week.

[Dave A]

We have got an email based chat group going in KZN based on the distribution list of a notification/query sent by Council some time last month (as to whether anyone had received a TERS payout). It has yielded some information:

There was some hope as two electrical contractors had been paid out. However, it turns out they had managed to register and submit a claim on https://uifecc.labour.gov.za/covid19/ directly, so unfortunately this wasn't as a result of the Council effort.

Of these two contractors, one just registered without a problem. Not clear when exactly but it appears he managed to do so before Council had captured that company's UIF number in their system. He got paid out 2 days later after uploading his csv file etc.

The second - I'm still trying to unravel exactly what she managed to do. There's no mention of difficulty registering at https://uifecc.labour.gov.za/covid19/, but a whole lot of stuff about struggling with uFiling access and submitting years worth of UIF returns...

I'm fairly confident that isn't the issue in my case, although this morning -



I have the usual lottery results from uFiling. Yesterday that was all green except the one for May 2020

However, in dealing with the uFiling problem, she did deal with real people from UIF (via email). Did they manage to detach her from the NBCEISA profile along the way? At this point I don't know.

We are getting the occassional response from Council. In one exchange a contractor had this to say:

Hi

I have been trying since Monday 20 April 2020 after the new web site was announced. The web site will not allow me to register direct as our UIF number has already been registered by the Bargaining Council. I have sent emails to the office of The President, the office of The Deputy President and the office of The Minister for Employment and Labour.

I do not know if the Bargaining Council can de-register us so that we can do the application ourselves.

Please advise

Kiren responded with this late yesterday:

Good Day *name withheld*

We understand the frustration and are trying our level best to get the contractors registered under or login in details de-registered/cancelled/ paid.

This is truly becoming a nightmare as you are aware the help we get from the UIF call centre is disgusting.

[GCE]

Thanks Dave
Still don't quite understand why each region is dealing separately - Understood that there was a person in Jhb selected to deal with UIF which would make sense instead of each region trying to deal as separate.
We submit monthly to UIF directly from the wage package and have confirmation back each time - So that should not be blocking me.

Would have thought that since the gazette extended the NBCEI agreement had been lodged that by now the MOA would have been signed and submitted and somebody from UIF allocated to deal with.
I also noticed that UIF have not made any payments since the 7th , or at least not shown so.
Let me try find my diplomatic hat , increase the nicotine intake and make some calls

[ians]

Thanks Dave
Still don't quite understand why each region is dealing separately - Understood that there was a person in Jhb selected to deal with UIF which would make sense instead of each region trying to deal as separate.
We submit monthly to UIF directly from the wage package and have confirmation back each time - So that should not be blocking me.

Would have thought that since the gazette extended the NBCEI agreement had been lodged that by now the MOA would have been signed and submitted and somebody from UIF allocated to deal with.
I also noticed that UIF have not made any payments since the 7th , or at least not shown so.
Let me try find my diplomatic hat , increase the nicotine intake and make some calls

I find a rubber mallet a 300mmX300mm steel plate ... 30 mm thick ... works best for me ... replaced the nicotine with a joint ...cut out the brandy completely ... and still had to replace the rubber mallet because i bent handle somehow.

[ians]

Question ...if your payment status shows R8000 but the actual amount in your account is less paid over by your employer ...is it because you have to pay tax ?

[Dave A]

Any benefit payment made by UIF has no deductions and does not form part of the beneficiary's taxable income.

[ians]

Any benefit payment made by UIF has no deductions and does not form part of the beneficiary's taxable income.

I wonder why a company would reduce the amount paid to an employee compared by as much as R980 compared to what was paid to them from the TERS ...any idea?

I know in my case ...i paid over R500 less because i gave one of my employees R500 advance to help get through until the UIF paid out... he was desperate.

[Justloadit]

There is going to be an issue with the reduced amount paid. As an employer, you have to send proof, copy of bank payment to the UIF office to show that there has been a payment made.

Dear Employer Please find detailed pay sheet indicating amount to be paid to each employee and word document Take note to print sign and forward word document together with Pay sheet and proof of payment to mail box as stated on the word document. Regards Unemployment Insurance Commissioner.

[GCE]

Hi

I have made the calls and sent the mails in regards to NBCEI and UIF claims with absolute silence as the result .

This morning I picked up a new gazette that is directly related and NBCEI are going to need systems in place quickly.

The way I read it, it appears that all Electrical contractors will need to claim through council and will not be allowed to claim themselves.
I see the gazette was issued 15 May , signed 30 April and is retrospective to 27 March.

I assume that this will change things for a number of employer organizations that fall under Bargaining councils.

[Dave A]

I see the ECA has posted an article about how the NBCEI is trying to escalate the problem of non-payment of TERS claims.

Reading the letter, it is clear it was drafted without knowledge of the regulation change of 15th May referred to by Graham above. That regulation change places the Bargaining Councils an an even more invidious position than the letter mentions.

Here's hoping there is a constructive response from the Department of Labour!